by Don White
Commonwealth Journal
Somerset —
No Pulaski County residents live farther apart than Buren and Oma Turner and Gary and Judy Wilson.
It’s just not possible.
In order for the two families to visit, it would require about a 100-mile round-trip.
The Turner residence at the end of Buren Turner Road overlooks Laurel County and the Rockcastle River.
From the back deck of their home on Dorena Road, the Wilsons look out over Green River Knob in Casey County, and Gary claims he “can hit a golf ball” to the Pulaski-Russell line.
Buren, 82, and a life-long resident of eastern Pulaski County, was born on nearby Boathouse Ridge.
Gary can look across and down the road and see the now abandoned house where he was born 66 years ago, weighing a hefty 13 pounds.
When he was three weeks old, the family moved from what had been his grandparents’ house into a newly built home directly across the road.
“Different people have claimed they carried me over to the new house, but I figure I was big enough to walk and pull some of them in a wagon,” he says, laughing.
The house where he was reared is now occupied by a brother and was the last residence in western Pulaski County before the Wilsons’ completed their current home in the spring of 1998.
Despite spending most of his life in Indianapolis as an employee of General Motors, Gary has fond memories of growing up in the western-most part of Pulaski.
“There were always plenty of playmates and things to do with five boys and one girl in the family,” he says.
He attended the two-room Free Union Grade School in Russell County and graduated with his future wife from Russell County High in 1962.
Although they were high school sweethearts ”He always saved me a seat on the bus” says Judy….they married other people.
Both were divorced and resumed their relationship when Gary retired and returned home to help care for his ailing father, who lived to be 101.
They will have been wed 11 years next January.
Judy commutes to Somerset where she is a caregiver for the elderly, and Gary combines his hobby of restoring old cars and tractors with farm work.
Among the tractors given new life are an International Super A, 601 Ford Workmaster and a 1948 Farmall that belonged to his father-in-law.
“I don’t just restore them; I use them on the farm,” he says.
Life off the farm includes taking part in The Neighborhood Quartet, a group founded four years ago. Besides Gary and Judy, the performers include a cousin, Ronald Wilson of Somerset, Janet Wilson, and Joyce Voils of Russell Springs. Joyce is an employee of Lake Cumberland Medical Center.
The Wilsons say they do most of their shopping at Wal-Mart in Somerset, although a newer Wal-mart in Columbia is only a few miles farther away.
“I like to go to Somerset so I can eat gravy and biscuits at Cracker Barrel too,” says Gary.
Judging from the surprisingly steady flow of traffic in front of their home, lots of people trek to Somerset often.
“Dorena Road is used quite a bit by people commuting to their jobs in Somerset because it’s the shortest route,” says Gary.
Commuter traffic is the last thing Buren and Oma Turner have to be concerned about.
The narrow roadway bearing his name continues past their home, but ends a short distance away at a family cemetery, sitting atop a hill and overlooking a lake and their 192.6 acre mountain farm.
Buren has owned the scenic acreage since purchasing it from his uncle, Elbert “Bert” Arthur, in 1955.
He and Oma, a native of Leslie County, built their current residence in 1972.
Jokingly, Buren claims it’s a mile down to the Pulaski-Laurel line at the Rockcastle River, “and two miles back” due to being uphill all the way.
When it comes to grocery shopping, stores in London are about four miles closer than those in Somerset, according to the former sawmill owner who did his first logging with mules.
He recalls earning his first money in a sawmill, working in his early teens for the late R.L. Vanhoose for 75 cents per hour.
After saving up $40, he went to the Western Auto Store in Somerset with the intention of buying a new bicycle.
“They had two. One was $35 and the other, $40. I bought the $35 one because I didn’t want to be plumb broke,” he says.
Later, he worked briefly as a mail carrier, sometimes riding a mule on his route from Ano to Acorn.
He attended grade school at Ano and attempted to attend the only high school in the area at Mt. Victory until transportation proved too difficult.
“To get to school at Mt. Victory, you had to walk from Ano to Acorn where Dick Strunk picked us up in his old Chevrolet. He hauled us from Acorn to Mt. Victory, but we’d usually have about five flat tires along the way.
“That old car had holes in the floor boards that he had stuffed with rags to keep the dust out, but they didn’t do much good. We always had to dust our clothes off when we got out.”
Hurricane Ridge cuts across his acreage and was so named when fierce winds tore through the area about 135 years ago.
“They say the winds were so strong they blew cattle away.”
Buren has a freshly planted apple orchard atop the ridge and has replaced his sawmill business with raising cattle.
“The Lord has been really good to me,” says the man who looks and acts much younger than his age. “I do a little something every day.”
What’s the best thing about living in such a remote place with no neighbors in sight?
“It’s just so peaceful,” says Buren. “I get to listen to the katydids and hoot owls every night.”
Besides the common bond of living on the edges of Pulaski County, there’s another similarity shared by the Turners and Wilsons……neither would want to live anyplace else.
