Jean A. Turnage remembered as effective statesman

Jean A. Turnage, a former chief justice of the Montana Supreme Court and long-serving Republican leader in the state Senate, died Sunday at St. Luke Extended Care in Ronan.

Turnage, 89, left a legacy as a gifted statesman and judge, whose intelligent, respectful approach to navigating complex issues inspired those he worked with.

John Mercer was a longtime colleague of Turnage at their practice in Polson, Turnage, Mercer & Wall, PLLP, who remembered Turnage as humble and patient, whether in public or private life.

“There was nothing arrogant about him; he would see anyone and take the time to talk to them, with all the credentials he had, Mercer said. “He wasn’t always the guy dealing with the most complex litigation, although he would, [but] he would also take the time to deal with the simplest things.”

That humble style was a hallmark of his public service as well, Mercer said.

“He always found a way to make people feel like their thoughts were listed to, and make them part of the solution,” he said. “It was never selfish, he just had a way of getting things done that you always felt good about it.”

Born in St. Ignatius as a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Turnage joined the Army Air Corps after high school and served as a top turret gunner until his honorable discharge in 1946.

He received his law degree from the University of Montana in 1951, beginning his private law practice in Polson the same year. In 1952, he met his wife, Eula Mae Johnson, and was elected Lake County Attorney, where he served five terms including a stint as president of the Montana County Attorneys’ Association in 1959.

After being elected one term in the state House in 1962, he was elected to the Montana Senate in 1964, where he would serve for the next 20 years. A Republican, he was the minority leader in 1967, majority leader in 1977 and president of the Senate in 1983.

Both Mercer and Mike Halligan, a former Senate minority leader who began his career in the Legislature across the aisle from Turnage, used the word “gentleman” to describe the quietly effective leader.

Halligan remembered meeting Turnage on his first day as a freshman Democratic Senator from Missoula.

“There was no reason why Jean Turnage should have been interested in me, but he took it upon himself to seek me out after we adjourned for the day, just to come over and shake my hand, welcome me to the Senate and ask me what my goals were,” Halligan said.

In the Legislature, Turnage was a champion for the University of Missoula’s Flathead Biological Station. Halligan said he saw the program not as a partisan issue, but as an institution that would protect the quality of the lake and his constituents who depended on it.

Halligan recalled Turnage as a brilliant statesman who never raised his voice, instead insisting that the legislative body maintain the highest level of decorum, and leading by example.

“I think he left that legacy with hundreds and hundreds of people that he served with, that there was a level of statesmanship expected of you as a public servant and you have to exude those qualities in order to be effective,” he said. “In my humble opinion, there is no one in the 22 years I served in the Legislature who better epitomized the word ‘statesman’ than Jean Turnage.”

Toward the end of his time as a Senator, he was appointed as a special assistant attorney general for the state, arguing on behalf of Montana before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976. After leaving the Legislature, he was twice elected chief justice of the state Supreme Court, an office he held for 16 years. He also served as the president of the National Conference of Chief Justices and chairman of the National Center for State Courts’ board of directors.

Mercer added that while many of his colleagues in the Legislature are no longer serving, the current political landscape would benefit from a leader like Turnage.

“He just liked to help people get things accomplished, and that’s frankly something that I would say, as I observe politics now, has really disappeared — the people that can make things work and get people to work together toward common goals.”

Funeral services will be held on Thursday at 1 p.m. at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Polson, followed by interment with full military honors by the Mission Valley Honor Guard at Lake View Cemetery.

Reporter Samuel Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.