The upbuilding of a city does not depend upon the efforts of a single individual but upon the combined labors of many men of enterprise who control various interests which are necessary to life under the existing conditions of modern civilization. Well known as one of the progressive merchants of Laramie is Robert H. Turner, proprietor of Turner's Variety Store.
    He was born in Red Oak, Iowa. July 6, 1881, a son of Hercules and Elizabeth R. (Crosthwaite) Turner. The father was a native of Ohio and a representative of one of the old families of that state of English lineage. He became a substantial agriculturist but at the time of the Civil war put aside all business and personal considerations and, responding to the country's call for troops, enlisted at Indianola, Iowa, in the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Iowa Infantry. He joined his regiment as a private but afterward became sergeant and served throughout the full term of his enlistment. Later he took up his abode in Red Oak, where he is now living retired. His wife was born in Missouri and belonged to one of the pioneer families of that state. She died April 10, 1916, when sixty-five years of age. In their family were four children : Pearl P., who is now an engineer residing at Red Oak, Iowa: Clarence C, who is a farmer and makes his home at Red Oak; John W., a farmer of Indianola, Nebraska: and Robert H., of this review.
    The last named began his education in the public schools of Red Oak, Iowa, at the usual age and passed through consecutive grades to his graduation from the high school. His early life to the age of twelve years was spent upon the farm. On attaining his majority he became field representative for the Highland Park College of Des Moines, Iowa, and occupied that position for five years. He then entered the retail shoe business in connection with Axel Peterson under the firm style of the Bolt Shoe Company at Red Oak and continued in that business successfully for five years. On the expiration of that period he sold out and came to the west, settling in Laramie, Wyoming, where he arrived on the 25^th of February, 1915. In March of the same year he entered his present line of business, establishing the Variety Store, which he has since owned and conducted. He has built up a good trade in this connection and has won success from the start. His efforts have been highly satisfactory, for his business methods are thoroughly progressive and reliable.
    On the 14^th of June, 1911, Mr. Turner was married in Roswell, New Mexico, to Miss Dorothy I. McNally, a native of Iowa and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. McNally. They have become parents of one son, Robert S., who was born in Red Oak, Iowa, June 25, 1912.
    Mr. Turner gives his political endorsement to the republican party, believing firmly in its principles, but he has never been a politician in the sense of office seeking. He holds membership in the Chamber of Commerce and cooperates in all of its well defined plans and projects for the improvement and upbuilding of his city and the extension of its business connections. That he is not unmindful of his duties toward the moral development of the community is indicated in the fact that he is a member of the First Methodist church, in which he is serving as one of the stewards. He started out in life on his own account without financial aid, early recognizing the eternal principle that industry wins and industry, therefore, became the beacon light of his life.