Feb. 7, 1931 - Oct. 9, 2024
Date of Service: Oct. 18, 2024
Lila Harris Turner
DECLO – Lila Harris Turner, of Eagle, Idaho, and formerly of Declo, was born February 7, 1931, in Burley, Cassia, Idaho. She passed away peacefully on October 9, 2024, at the age of 93, at Grace Memory Care in Boise.
After years of being childless, Lawrence Edwin Harris, age 49 and Laura Jane Randall, age 44, adopted Lila immediately after her birth. Her parents adored her, and Lila loved them and felt very blessed to have them as her parents.
Lila was raised a few miles outside of Burley, Idaho. Her elementary years were mainly in the rural farming community called Unity. There was a chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a mile or two from her home where she attended with her parents. She went to school at Miller Elementary and Burley Junior and Senior High schools.
She started piano lessons when she was ten years old. Her mother sold eggs to pay for her lessons. Lila was a gifted piano student. Her teacher was Clarissa Gillett. She wanted Lila to be a concert pianist and insisted she only play classical music. It wasn’t long before Lila started playing popular music, and her training ended. She only took lessons for four years, but was a natural on the piano and could play by ear, transpose, and embellish the written score. When she was 15, she began playing with an eight-member band at the Y-Dell Ballroom on Wednesday and Saturday nights.
She started taking dance lessons in the first grade from her school music teacher. During World War II Lila was a member of a dance team that performed for various service clubs and organizations to promote the sale of savings bonds.
When she was in seventh grade, she started taking dance lessons from Barbara Church. One night she overheard her parents talking about how they could not afford the $7.00 per month for her lessons and Lila told her teacher she had to quit after one month. Barbara would not let her quit and invited her to play the piano for a few of the ballet classes to earn her dance lessons.
She married her first husband, Vernon Dale Munson, a mechanic, on September 4, 1947. This marriage ended in divorce on September 23,1950. On January 2, 1954, she married Bruce Bigler Turner, who at the time was in the United States Air Force. Over the many years they were married, he became a successful potato farmer in Declo, Idaho, which was just a few miles east of Unity where Lila was raised. They had four children together and Bruce adopted the oldest three that Lila brought with her into their marriage.
Soon after they were married, Lila began to teach dancing to help with the family finances. Her business grew over the next 27 years. She taught well over 2000 students and was responsible for innumerable recitals and floor shows. It is difficult to go anywhere in Idaho without discovering one of her students.
During those busy years she also played the keyboard in the Al DeVries band. Even during the ‘60s, she played with the band for school dances and other events. This was long before DJs were a thing.
Eventually, she bought an organ with all the bells, whistles, and percussion and became a one-woman band. She traveled around the area providing entertainment for all kinds of activities. She was well known for her talents both in dance and music.
Lila had seven children. She made sure all of them took dance and piano lessons. The younger children also took voice. She saw that her children were well dressed and presentable in public. She taught the girls to cook, sew, clean, care for children, and manage a yard and garden. In those days, that was the community culture. The women took care of those things, and the men worked on the farm.
In her fifties, she started taking painting classes. She began with oils, but also did acrylic, watercolor, oil pastels and ceramic painting. In her lifetime, she painted hundreds of pictures. Unfortunately, in her later years, her macular degeneration and shaky hands robbed her of the ability to do artwork.
On her 80th birthday, she learned her birth mother was still living and soon after they met. They had two wonderful years together before her birth mother died at the age of 97.
She also connected with her birth father’s family. She met a 97-year-old aunt and talked frequently on the phone with a newfound half-sister. She had gone from being raised an only child to having many new relatives.
After Bruce retired from farming, they moved to Eagle, Idaho. She became a widow when Bruce passed away on July 27, 2014.
She was known as a very beautiful and talented person. She left her family a legacy of determination, hard work, and perfection in cleanliness and order in their homes. She instilled in each of them, a love of music, dance, and the arts.
Lila is survived by six of her children, Shaunna Williams (Dale), of Scottsdale, AZ, Susan Darrington (John) of Meridian, ID, Tamra Turner (Craig Vogel) of Meridian, ID, Julie Turner, of Boise, ID, Michelle Webb (Erik) of Eagle, ID, and LaMont Turner (Stacy) of Meridian, ID; 24 grandchildren; 58 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild.
Lila was preceded in death by her parents, Lawrence Edwin Harris and Laura Jane Randall; her son, Lawrence Wayne Turner; and two grandchildren, April Kae Wilde and Andrea Dawn Barendregt; and Bekm Bacon, a great-grandchild.
A graveside service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, October 18th, at Gem Memorial Gardens, located at 2435 Overland Ave, in Burley, ID.
In lieu of flowers, donations to honor Lila can be made to:
DAC/I’m a Dancer against Cancer https://www.ImaDancerAgainstCancer.org or
Ronald McDonald House Charities | RMHC https://rmhc.org
Arrangements have been entrusted to the care of Rasmussen-Wilson Funeral Home of Burley.
