True friends are those who strike a particular and significant chord in our hearts that cannot and will not be ignored, a vibration that says, if ever you need I will stand with you, support you, forgive you, and if warranted defend you. We know that each gift of life, given to us, will follow a different path and each encounter along the way, affects the sum total of our last steps taken to identify who we have become and our destiny. We will all fall and rise, that’s what humans do, but it’s our stubborn nature of recovery that helps us prevail and succeed. We know necessity is the mother of invention and the need to create and produce motivates many of us to dare to be risk takers, full of optimism and searching for a pathway to explore opportunities leading to the birth of the entrepreneur. 

Our parents and grandparents are our windows to the past that show us where we came from and how to carry the best examples from them with us into our future with a gentle push from an invisible hand of faith. They were both born in 1926, just three years before The Great Depression. They married in 1946 and lived in Cornell, IL about seven miles northwest of Pontiac near the Vermillion River. Keith Turner sold scrap iron and worked as a farm hand while his wife, LaVon, ran a gas station, patching tires, and selling oil. It was a tough row to hoe but they had each other and 20 years of youth. 

In 1947 son Mike came along and in 1952 Kevin was born. Their dad got a job as a special agent with The Farm Bureau Insurance Company and they moved to Dixon, IL where Scott was born in 1954. But Keith was just getting started. In 1959, the boys welcomed a new sister named Martha and the family moved to Mattoon to Leroy then Peoria. Then with a role of the dice, this risk-taking entrepreneur, quit his job, borrowed some money, and bought the Zinser Insurance Agency in Chillicothe, IL. After purchasing two more agencies, the Western Yeast Company in 1966, and building three apartment complexes in the 70s, the template was set and a young Scott Turner was not blind to these moves. 

At Pearce Grade School he excelled in track especially the discus throw, setting a new record of 151 feet, surpassing Marty Ogburn, someone Scott always held in high regard in displaying the best of examples to young athletes. At age 12 he enjoyed fishing, on warm summer days, at the Sportsman’s Club with his very special friend, Johnny Gauwitz. At age 15 he made a life-changing commitment, by placing his faith in God through Jesus Christ and became a Christian with encouragement from his lifelong best friend Don Schmidt and his mother Geraldine. 

Graduating from IVC in 1972, he was accepted at the University of Illinois where he stayed only one year, acquiring basic skills in computer science. He then took miscellaneous business courses at ICC while working for his dad in insurance. At age 19 he passed the state exam for a licensed insurance broker and later a licensed real estate broker in Illinois. At this stage of his life, the path lay before him. In a bold move, he sharpened his computer skills and created new programs for the many different facets of their insurance policies. He in effect streamlined the operations of the Turner Hicks Agency that made them faster, more efficient, and very competitive in the industry. Scott and older brother Kevin ran the company together and serviced many satisfied customers for 32 years, then they sold the business. 

During those early years, Scott’s faith was to be severally tested. After a short-lived first marriage dissolved, Scott by chance met, as he says, a beautiful young lady in distress—her name was Gisela Kaap. They married on January 1, 1981 and in 1982 April Michele arrived then Stephen Scott in 1983. In 1993 his sister Martha died from a brain tumor then in 2016 April perished in an auto accident the same year Dad passed at 92. But his faith and the fire in his belly from his father’s influence never left him. Although deeply wounded by the loss of his close family members, he had to fill a void—he needed a new challenge. 

At the Western Yeast Company, Kevin joined with his best friend, Bobby Leiner, to revive and improve the business. While testing a product named Di-San, Scott found he needed to clear a pesky clogged drain line. He decided to work on a device that would remove hair clogs quickly without using chemicals. After much trial and error, with long hours in his basement and much patience from Gisela, he invented what he called the Flexisnake, which to his delight worked better than expected. With his funds running low, Scott borrowed money for a patent attorney. 

It was inevitable and crucial that Stephen join his dad at the new Flexisnake corporation since he, too has that same entrepreneurial spirit and fire that came from a humble team so many years ago in Cornell, Illinois. Steve’s contributions to Flexisnake are immeasurable and today he holds numerous patents and manages two facilities with more than 60 employees, shipping millions of product items yearly. 

These accounts of Scott Turner are credible but there is much more to him than this space will allow. Scott shows us what risk and a creative mind can accomplish when necessity and curiosity are mixed with faith and determination which many would call the American Way and thank goodness that heart still beats. 

Grandma LaVon, who at age 98 still takes care of herself, must be very proud of all her men. Scott also knows that his faith with an invisible hand at crucial roadblocks, helped clear the way to reward. There have been and always will be Hometown Heroes in Chillicothe of different walks, stature, and occupations and now Scott Irwin Turner, who being a major contributor to the economy of his hometown and directly connected to creating numerous good paying jobs for the citizenry, joins those ranks. Thank you, Scott and the three generations of Turners who helped stimulate the growth of this River City.