Suggested edit: William Richmond Turpin, MD William Richmond Turpin, MD, died October 20, 2006. He will be much remembered by the many people in central Texas and throughout the world whom he treated when they were sick or injured, and by the members of the medical community with whom he worked. He is survived by his loving wife, Andrea Touchet Turpin, RN; by his children, Russell Turpin, Sarah Turpin, and Katherine Turpin; and by his cousin, Allene Corley. He was preceded in death by his sister, Zoe Merklein. Born in Clayton, Georgia, March 15, 1923, to William Russell and Sarah Louisa Turpin, he was the first in his family to attend college. He served in the Army Air Force during World War II, piloting supplies and paratroopers in the Pacific theater, serving in New Guinea, flying missions in the Philippines campaign and others. He was awarded the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross, with oak leaf clusters. He returned to finish college at Wake Forest University, and then graduate from Bowman Gray School of Medicine. He finished his residency in neurosurgery at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He practiced as a neurosurgeon for six years for the Air Force, in Wiesbaden, Germany, and Montgomery Alabama. After leaving the Air Force, he moved to Austin, Texas, where he had a private practice in neurosurgery from 1962 to 2004. He was an officer of the Austin Doctors Building Corporation, contributing significantly to the creation of the north Austin medical complex. He was dedicated to teaching and advancing the practice of medicine in the community, helping develop programs at Brackenridge Hospital and the Brackenridge Hospital School of Nursing. He personally taught and mentored hundreds of young nurses and physicians. The first twenty years he was in Austin, in addition to his private practice, he routinely treated indigent patients in the Brackenridge clinic and loyally answered the call to help trauma victims in the Brackenridge Emergency Room. A rosary will be held at 7:00 p.m., Monday, October 23, 2006, at Weed Corley Fish Chapel. A funeral mass will be held at 1:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 24, 2006, at the Our Lady's Maronite Catholic Church, 1320 East 51st Street, Austin, with Reverend Monsignor Donald Joseph Sawyer, D. Min., and Reverend Robert Kincl officiating. Burial will follow at the Taylor City Cemetery, Taylor, Texas. In lieu of flowers, please make memorial contributions to the University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing, 1700 Red River, Austin, Texas 78701, Attn: Dean Delores Sands, or to the Brackenridge Hospital School of Nursing Alumni Association, 1607 Chatham Ave, Austin, Texas 78723.

Published in Austin American-Statesman from Oct. 22 to Oct. 23, 2006
Contributor: George S. Ellington (15672281) • [email protected]