Foundation gets first funds from Turnbull estate

MARLISA KEYES

Staff writer

SANDPOINT — After Harp Turnbull’s wife of 51 years, Dolly, died on May 31, 2004, he missed her something fierce.

Some mornings when Dale Coffelt pulled into the parking lot of Coffelt Funeral Home he would find Turnbull waiting for him in his old black and grey F-150 pickup.

“He was so depressed after Dolly died,” said Coffelt, executor of the Turnbull Estate.

The Turnbulls had never had children and Harp wanted to talk. The conversations sometimes lasted a few minutes; other times, more than an hour.

“He just came and sat and talked to me. I’d just let him talk,” Coffelt said.

Turnbull’s words centered around he and his late wife’s mutual desire to do something meaningful with the substantial estate they had accumulated over a lifetime of hard work.

That estate included two parcels of land Harp had inherited from his parents, Thomas and Phoebe: a beautiful South Sagle Road parcel that included the old homestead and Westmond Creek running year-round through its lush meadows, timbered land located off Westmond Road, and around $500,000 in savings.

Thomas Turnbull squatted on the land in 1884 after he and a brother and his wife came to the area in 1882 after hearing railroad companies were going to install tracks in the area and that squatter lands might be in the offering.

“The Turnbull were here long before the railroads came through or anything,” Coffelt said.

Harp Turnbull attended school in Sagle through eighth grade, worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps for $1 a day and was a logger for the H.E. Brown Lumber Company, according to his May 2007 obituary.

He also was involved with the champion Sagle baseball team for many years and, at one time, was offered a contract to play with the Chicago Cubs.

In addition to helping Harp with the ranch, Dolly served as Westmond Cemetery secretary and spearheaded the cemetery’s revitalization project.

For Harp, doing something meaningful meant giving back to a county he believed had given much to himself and Dolly, Coffelt said in 2007 after Harp died and his intentions to leave money to the county were made public.

The Turnbulls also left $200,000 to the Westmond Cemetery Association and money to Dolly’s heirs.

Then Bonner County Commission chairman Marcia Phillips and former Bonner County attorney John Topp began discussion with Coffelt and Turnbull that would allow the estate to give money in perpetuity to the county’s Road and Bridge department.

Turnbull gave Coffelt the leeway to decide how to maximize the estate so the county would get the best return from it. That included setting up an account with the Idaho Community Foundation, having the timber and land holdings appraised and deciding whether to harvest the timber and then sell the land or sell the land outright.

The economy, which showed signs of trouble in August 2007 just a scant three months after Harp Turnbull died, helped with that decision, Coffelt said.

The Turnbull property was appraised at $4.6 million when land prices were still high, but the economy and timber prices hit bottom shortly after that and Coffelt was told by a Realtor that the timber was no longer worth anything.

However, timber prices have rebounded in the past month, said Bonner County commissioner Lewis Rich.

Hansen Timber Management of Bayview recently appraised the timber value in excess of $500,000. However, the property only has a 30-foot easement and, until a negotiations on a 60-feet easement is completed, it cannot be logged, Coffelt said.

He is confident that issue soon will be resolved.

After the property was initially listed as one piece for sale, it was determined a sale would be more likely if it were divided into two parcels.

The property is listed with Tom Mahler of Sotheby’s Tomlinson Black. The listing includes the 280-acre homestead for $2.4 million and the Westmond parcel for $900,000.

The first proceeds of the Harp and Dolly Estate that will be invested with the Idaho Community Foundation comes from a certificate of deposit invested at 4.25 percent that recently came due and is worth $300,000 and change. Money from sale of the timber and land also will invested with the foundation account.

Bonner County Road and Bridge will be the sole recipient of the fund. It will receive the interest from the account, which likely will be placed in a reserve fund and used when enough money is accumulated to fund a project, Rich said.

“Building roads is expensive,” he added.

Although Rich never met the Turnbulls, as a 30-year county resident he understands  and admires the work ethic and fortitude it took for them to succeed in Bonner County.

“Fortunes have been made the hard way in this county,” Rich said.