Courtney Turner (Atchison, KS)

Courtney Turner was a businessman and philanthropist from Atchison, KS. He was born on March 1, 1896, to two of Atchison's pioneer residents. He registered for the World War I draft on May 26, 1917, and described himself as tall, slender, with blue eyes and brown hair. In 1917, he applied for officers' training school and was assigned to the Fifth Provisional Co., and by 1918, he had been promoted to captain. He was the youngest officer (and soldier) in his regiment. After serving with the army of occupation in Germany for six months, he returned to the United States. He joined the Brown-Crummer Investment Co. of Kansas City in 1922, and in 1925 he formed a partnership to establish Commerce Acceptance Co. in Atchison to handle installment sales contracts for Ford cars sold by a firm in Atchison. Commerce grew from assets of $27,500 to $22 million over the course of about 40 years. In World War II as a lieutenant colonel he was deputy chief of staff to the commanding general of communications in Europe. The Trust has given to projects including Veterans Memorial Park in Atchison, Northeast Kansas Technical College, the Atchison County Historical Society, and the Atchison Santa Fe Depot. A meeting room in the Kansas City Public Library's Plaza branch is named in his honor.<ref name=":1" />