J. Turner Bradford Jr.

J. Turner Bradford Jr., 98, of Pine Bluff died Friday, Sept. 17, 2010. Born Sept. 2, 1912 in El Reno, Okla., a son of the late James Turner and Helen Knox Bradford, Turner was reared and educated in Pine Bluff, graduating from Pine Bluff High School in 1931, then attending Hendrix College in Conway. He worked for the Missouri-Pacific Railroad from 1933 to 1943 in San Antonio, Texas. Moving to Paris, Ark., in 1943, he joined his father-in-law in operating the L. P. Jacobs Hardware Company. He returned to Pine Bluff in 1949 and joined Lewis Williams and Company. He retired from that wholesale hardware sales business as a stockholder and vice president in 1980. After his retirement from the Williams company, he worked with Pope Furniture in Pine Bluff as a salesman until his second retirement in 2002. Turner was a member of Lakeside United Methodist Church, a Mason, Shriner, and former member of the Pine Bluff Public Safety Committee. Survivors include his wife, June McKay Bradford, who he married in 1962 in Magnolia, Ark.; two sons, Jay T. Bradford of Little Rock and Knox Bradford of Hot Springs; daughters, Sarah B. Bales of Plano, Texas, and Annette A. Skinner of Harker Heights, Texas; grandchildren, Chrystal Alexander, Shannon Martin, Lev Bradford, Jeffrey McKay Vassaur, Julie Annette Mayrant, Gregory Arden Vassaur; and eight great-grandchildren. Turner married Chrystal Jacobs in 1937 in Wilson, Ark. She died in 1948. He was also preceded in death by a brother, Richard Knox Bradford, and two sisters, Georgia Dean Bradford Goodrich and Helen Bradford Phillips. Visitation is Tuesday from 4 to 6 p.m. at Ralph Robinson & Son. Private services will follow. The family requests that memorials take the form of contributions to the donor's favorite charity. Online register: www.ralphrobinsonandson.com.