Reunion of Turco, Charmglow Employees Sunday at 2 p.m.
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[In its day the Turco Manufacturing Co. was part of Perry County's manufacturing gold rush that included the Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Midwest Dairy, Du Quoin Packing Co., Country Set, Inc., P.R. Mallory, Decca Records, Prairie Metals, the Illinois Central and no fewer than 13 coal mining operations in three counties.
Turco Manufacturing Co.'s name came from the woman whom longtime president Bob Feigenbaum married--Lois Turken--and the company became an icon in the backyard swingset industry with exclusive marketing through Sears Roebuck and later K-Mart. Hundreds of thousands of swingsets Made in Du Quoin put smiles on the faces of America's children eager to take their first ride on a backyard swing.
This Sunday, May 20 starting at 2 p.m. there will be a reunion of Turco and Charmglow employees at the labor pavilion at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds. Meat will be provided, but attendees are asked to share a covered dish and bring lawn chairs. You mus RSVP Carol Collins at 543-2373 or Jenny Schneider at 542-8600 to attend.
Lois Rae Turken married Robert E. Feigenbaum on April 11, 1948 and they had three children: Sue, Robyn and Keith. Lois was an adventurer, She was a woman aviator and started her flying career in 1962, after moving to Southern Illinois. Within 18 months of her first solo she obtained her private license, multi-engine rating, instrument rating, certified flight instructor rating and was only the 78th women to receive an Airline Transport Pilot Certificate. Lois went on to become the President of the Ninety-Nines, (an International Organization of Women Pilots), and was appointed to the Presidents Advisory Board on Aviation by President Nixon. Lois died Sept. 14, 2004, after a brief battle with cancer.
Robert was a gifted attorney who surrounded himself with talent at Turco. For a while he was a shareholder in the Du Quoin State Bank and has since retired to St. Louis and Florida.
Turco opened with a small footprint in the corner of South Line and the Eldorado line of the Illinois Central Railroad. It would sell swingsets and during its history a total of seven product lines that included Turco, Charmglow gas grills and Japanese-made kerosene heaters that were marketed in the U.S. with the Turco name on them.
Swingsets and gas grills were 95 percent of the company's business. Dozens of Turco "Estate" heaters are still used on occasion in homes across Du Quoin as supplemental heat.
Turco also had four lesser products that accounted for 5 percent of their business. Of these, only the weight benches, which they manufactured on an ongoing contract basis for Sears, were profitable. The others - a baseball batting practice game, bar-type counter stools and scooters - comprised only 2 percent of Turco's sales.
Turco had a total of four expansions during its history in Du Quoin, ultimately purchasing the P.R. Mallory property to the west. For a brief time, Turco was owned by Mattel and became a debtor to Allied Steel Corp. The building was purchased by Flexible Flyer and later by a grain handling equipment manufacturer.Turco's sales grew from $5 million in the early 1960s to $12 million in 1976, $30 million by 1978 and finally $50 million in 1981. The economy, labor issues, too many products, and other opportunities were part and parcel of Turco's exodus from the marketplace.