Steven L. Turner

In Loving Memory of Steven Larry Turner

1950 – 2024

Steven L. Turner (Steve), 73 of Overland Park, Kansas passed away on Monday, May 13th, 2024, at Advent Health Hospital after a lengthy illness. His beloved son, Collin, and life-long friend, Gene Deutsch, were present to comfort him in his final days.

Born on August 23, 1950, in Kansas City Missouri to Samuel and Lore Turner (both deceased), he was the youngest of three children. The family moved to Prairie Village, Kansas when Steve was two years old. Steve remained a life-long resident of Johnson County, primarily residing in Overland Park from high school onward. Steve graduated from Shawnee Mission West High School in 1968 and went on to attend Kansas University, but decided early on that college life was not for him. He enlisted as an airman in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Air Force Reserves, where he honorably served from 1969-1973.

Steve's early years were a great predictor of the roads he would take in adult life. His love of cars was life-long and fostered in large part by his dad's involvement with cars and rally racing. He had an impish sense of humor and was somewhat of a scamp as a child, oftentimes landing him in hot water with his elders, which usually resulted in the adults trying (unsuccessfully) not to laugh at his antics. The many westerns and WWII movies he watched on TV sparked his staunch patriotism, belief in service to others, and abiding belief in law and order. Steve was also very much engaged in sports, swimming and diving competitively at the neighborhood country club, where he also learned how to play pool from the teen-aged lifeguards-a passion carried well into adult life, and poker by hanging out by the weekly Saturday afternoon men's poker group (the referenced adults who were not happy about his "coaching" various players).

His love of pool and bowling led him to join the King Louie Corporation (King Louie West in Overland Park) where he had spent much of his leisure time as a teenager. With his easy-going personality, good business sense, and strong customer service ethic, Steve rapidly rose to top management level and became known for his ability to build the business in innovative ways, hire and retain loyal employees, give his customers great service, and rescue other lanes in the chain that were less successful. He parted ways with the industry once it was bought out by AMF, because "they could not deliver a quality product to the customer" that his high standards demanded. Prior to leaving the industry though he had become friendly with a number of local police officers who often served as security for the facility in their off-duty hours. Over the years several of them encouraged Steve to consider a career in law enforcement.

Steve joined the Overland Park Police Department where he worked as a patrol officer, an undercover narcotics agent, and at times served on the SWAT team. He had stepped into his childhood vision of the proverbial good guy/hero. In doing so, he became somewhat of a hero himself to his two nephews who were awestruck by the uniform, badge, and gun – but mostly to be able to ride in his black and white and run the siren when visiting. Steve never forgot his years on the force and became a staunch supporter of both the military and the police agencies across the nation – particularly as the tide of public opinion turned against them in recent years. Well into retirement, he regularly broadcast alerts, appeals, and local police news on social media in an ongoing effort to support law enforcement and help keep his community safe.

Upon retirement from the Overland Park Police, Steve decided to try his hand as a businessman. He had taken accounting courses along the way at William Jewell College and found he had an interest in and an aptitude for business accounting. That along with his outgoing personality and bartending experience over the years encouraged him to look for an opportunity in the retail liquor industry. He found the perfect opening when a local wine and liquor store was looking to sell. Steve bought the business from the owner and kept him on as part-time help until he could learn the ins and outs of the business. After a year he took on the operation completely. He loved the business and the intricacy of inventory management, designing and implementing marketing strategies, but thought he could do more. He had been mulling over a new concept to assist customers in making wine selections based on food pairings, but to do it electronically – an electronic sommelier. He became further immersed in researching the idea, speaking with design engineers and others to advance the concept. In order to devote all his time and energies to this product development, Steve retired from the retail liquor business.

While the electronic sommelier concept never took off, Steve found himself with time to spare and decided to follow another of his life-long interests. As a younger man he had often spoken of moving to Las Vegas and finding work in the gambling industry. Steve loved card games of any sort, but especially all kinds of poker. While Las Vegas wasn't really an option at that point due to some ongoing health issues, Steve indulged his interests and people skills by joining the Argosy Casino working as a dealer and part-time floor manager for a number of years. There he made a number of good friends who made him a valued member of their family. He took their friendship and the brotherhood of casino workers seriously and became a vocal leader in petitioning for unionization. While that ultimately led to his parting ways with the casino, he was proud to have been a voice for fair treatment of industry workers.

Steve spent his retirement years enjoying his family, spending as much time as he could with his two grandchildren by his son, Collin, his old friends from the bowling alley days and casino days, and indulging in unflagging support for his beloved Kansas City Chiefs.

Steve leaves behind a son, Collin Turner (Danielle), his grandchildren Peyton Turner and Jackson Turner of Brandon, Mississippi, a sister, Vicki Svoboda (Cliff) of Eatonton, Georgia, two nephews (Adam Svoboda of London, UK and Philip Svoboda of Loveland, Colorado), and his brother, Michael Turner of Loveland, Colorado; his two cousins Karen Gold Sherman (Randall) of Hastings-on-Hudson, and Suzannah Gold of Westport, Connecticut. He was preceded in death by his parents Samuel and Lore Turner, and his former spouse, Debbie Hoerl (mother of Collin).

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