There are very few people in this world who are readily identifiable by using only a single name. On the world stage, Cher, Prince, Beyonce, Elvis, and Twiggy are instantly recognizable by just mentioning their mononym name, be it part of their full birth name or simply a moniker they adopted somewhere along their life’s journey. But for the more ordinary person, it isn’t likely that the mention of a single name would conjure up an image of only one person.
There are exceptions of course. In Easton, should you just mention the name “Oscar” to anyone who lived here between 1945 and the end of the 20th century, the image of our kindly police chief during most of those years would almost instantly come to mind.
But what if someone were to ask you about “Turb”? Given the multitude of monikers out there, it is more than likely that the name “Turb” isn’t unique to just one person, but quite frankly, I’ve only heard it used once and for one man. If you lived in Easton before 1986, if someone mentioned that name, you more than likely knew exactly who they were referring to.
Arthur Alfred Bush was born on September 26, 1899. He was the youngest of the five children born to Harry and Nora Bush on Park Avenue in Bridgeport on a farm that is now part of Ninety Acres Park. Arthur attended the one-room Plattsville schoolhouse on Jefferson Street in Fairfield. During the First World War, he was employed making munitions at the Union Metallic Cartridge Company (later Remington Arms).
At what point young Arthur took on the nickname of “Turb” is unknown. Also unknown is how he came about that name and what it meant, if anything.
Shortly after the First World War, Turb took a job as a milk peddler for Easton father and son farmers Ambrose and Robert Marsh who operated their dairy farm at the Marsh homestead on Flat Rock Road. Ambrose Marsh was my great-grandfather, and his youngest son, George – my grandfather – would soon become the best of friends with young Turb who had grown up living next door to George’s new wife Edith. It was a relationship that would last until they both passed in the 1980’s. They both worshiped at the Jessie Lee Methodist Church. They both became early members of the newly formed Easton Volunteer Fire Company Number One. They both became Masonic brothers, first at Washington Lodge 19 in Monroe, and later as charter members of Aspetuck Lodge 142. They would both end up working for Sam Senior’s Bridgeport Hydraulic Company. They even vacationed together.
In 1913, Chileon Dickerson was hired by Sam Senior to be a foreman on one the projects the ever-growing Bridgeport Hydraulic Company was involved with in Easton. The company had planned to begin construction on Dam Number Three in the Narrows prior to the war breaking out in Europe, but those plans were put on hold as materials became scarce and acquisition costs rose. None-the-less, Dickerson retained his job with the BHC and Senior found his family a place to live in Easton.
When the new fire company was formed in March of 1922, two of the charter members were Chileon Dickerson and Arthur “Turb” Bush. Dickerson would be the first chief when the company began physical operations. Dickerson had a twenty-year old daughter named Gladys who caught young Turb’s attention. They both belonged to the Jesse Lee Methodist Church and soon began to date. Chileon thought his future son-in-law should have a better job than peddling milk for Ambrose Marsh and his son. He introduced Turb to Sam Senior and the young man had a new career. Turb and Gladys were married in June of 1923.
After Chileon’s sudden death in 1928, Turb and Gladys took in Gladys’ mother Florence, who would live with them for twenty-eight years until her own death in 1956.
The new reservoir and Dam Number Three were finally under construction by early 1925. The newly built house alongside the latest dam would become the home of the new superintendent of the Easton Lake watershed. Available records don’t indicate exactly when Turb Bush was awarded that position, but it was likely sometime in the early 1930’s, around the same time that he was first elected as the chief of the Volunteer Fire Company. Turb would hold that position until 1956, a total of twenty-five years, making him the longest standing chief in the department’s 102-year history. For the first twenty years of that tenancy, he served without compensation.
During Turb’s tenure as fire chief, the company purchased its first two new trucks, a Sanford in 1931 and a Mack that arrived in early 1947. It was under his leadership that the company split the duties of fire fighting and business duties. In 1933, the company elected its first corporate officers. The company also expanded the original firehouse by adding an additional bay to the north side of the building and it purchased first, the green across the road, and then an additional 1.5 acres where the present firehouse now sits.
During World War II, Turb was the sergeant of the guards at the Easton Lake Reservoir where employees of the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company were issued company badges and weapons to help protect the dam and water supply from sabotage by foreign operatives. Turb was also the chairman of the local Civil Defense Corps.
In addition to his duties as fire chief, Turb became the town’s first fire marshal, a position he held for over twenty years. He paid for his own training, and he was the one who investigated the cause of any major fire in town. It was Turb who concluded that a faulty furnace was the cause of the 1946 fire that destroyed Helen Keller’s Arcan Ridge home on Redding Road. Turb also served as Easton’s state fire warden, issuing burning permits to residents for legal burns, and citations to those who chose to burn their brush and leaves illegally.
Turb was one of the original members of the Ambulance Association that was formed right after WWII. Not only did he help guide the purchase of the group’s first new Cadillac ambulance in 1947, but he also took medical emergency training and became one of the volunteer drivers. He served as the president of the association for five years and as a trustee for ten more.
As Easton’s police force grew after the war, the department added “special” officers who patrolled the town on weekends and nights, as well as help direct traffic at various events and emergency situations. Turb Bush was one of those who served in that capacity. While never a full-time officer, it was a common sight to see Turb dressed in his police uniform helping out the rest of the force whenever time allowed.
Although Turb and Gladys Bush never had any children of their own, both were active with youth organizations in town. Turb was a merit badge counselor for the Boy Scouts, and he served on the Easton Boy Scout Committee for over eight years.
Nearly every civic organization in Easton earned some of Turb’s time during his lifetime of community service. He served as a member of the War Memorial Committee, the Masonic Veterans Association of Connecticut, the Easton Grange, and the Jesse Lee Methodist Church among others. A more unselfish man would have been difficult to find.
After his retirement from the BHC, the company continued to provide Turb and Gladys with a cottage to use during the summer months when they headed north from their winter home in Boynton Beach, Florida. The former Wilson Schoolhouse that was located just north of the Aspetuck Valley Orchards Barn on the Black Rock Turnpike was modernized and turned into a residence specifically for the couple.
Gladys passed away in 1981 and Turb followed five years later in 1986. Both are interred at Union, right next to Chileon and Florence Dickerson.
So, for those of you who first saw the name “Turb” while reading this article, now you know who he was and why those who called Easton home for much of the middle part of the twentieth century both adored and admired the man who gave so unselfishly of his time and effort. And for those of you who haven’t seen or heard that name in a while, I am certain that it brought back memories and perhaps even a smile to your face.
