Gerry Turner’s latest book, Golden Years: What I’ve Learned from Love, Loss, and Reality TV, uncovers emotional truths about his first wife’s health diagnosis.
According to PEOPLE, Turner recalled the moment he realized his first wife “didn’t want anybody” to know about the health diagnosis following her 2017 death. The 74-year-old Golden Bachelor alum reflected on the time he went through Toni’s things after she succumbed to a bacterial infection that summer.
In the book, Turner wrote, “Tucked away in the back of a bathroom drawer, in a clear sign that she didn’t want anybody to uncover what was in there, I found evidence that she had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.”
“There was literature, prescriptions, a blood glucose meter, and other supplies — all apparently untouched and unused. She’d never mentioned this big diagnosis to me or her daughters, and, as far as I could tell, she’d never followed through with treatment”, he added.
Following the revelation, Turner had his mind spiralling with “what-ifs”, as mentioned in the book.
He wrote, “Untreated or unmanaged diabetes stresses the body, particularly the kidneys. Had Toni had the means to live longer, but been undone in the end by the belief that any kind of whining was frivolous? Had I somehow contributed to this mentality? Why hadn’t she felt comfortable confiding in me about something as important as having diabetes? The loss of any loved one is sad. But to think it might have been possible, no matter how remotely, for her to have lived longer or still be alive today, is even more painful.”
The TV personality reiterated that the “saddest” part about Toni’s death was that she “didn’t feel safe enough to tell anyone the truth of what was happening with her.”
Back in 2023, Turner opened up about his love story with his late wife to PEOPLE. He revealed that they were high-school sweethearts who tied the knot in 1972 and welcomed two daughters, Jenny and Angie.
Nostalgically recalling how their love blossomed, Gerry shared that “the best friend (Toni) had no interest in me. I remember standing there, chatting with Toni, and talking about her best friend. All of a sudden, I thought, ‘Well, what the heck? This gal seems really nice and a good conversationalist.”
As per the news outlet, Gerry eventually landed a date with Toni during his sophomore year, and they also went for a dance at the YMCA.
He said, “Back then in Ottumwa, Iowa, which is where I lived, the big deal every Friday was a dance at the YMCA; there’d be a band and so forth. So I asked Toni out for the first time to a dance at the YMCA. We pretty much dated regularly for the next four or five years.”
The retired restaurateur also talked about their shared love for family boat trips on the Mississippi River.
“We had a lot of fun with that. We had a close group of friends who were boaters, and all of us had young kids. We’d just tie a line onto their life jacket and tie a line onto the boat and just throw them over. They had a great time,” he added.
Following just weeks after their lake house acquisition in Indiana, Toni succumbed to the bacterial infection.
Turner said, “She’d worked her whole life, getting to that spot where she deserved her time in retirement and her time of fun, and she got cheated out of it. That was the thing that always bothered me.”
Revealing how they commemorate Toni’s memory today, Gerry said, “On the anniversary of her passing, Jenny and Angie and I always exchange thoughts like, ‘If she was here, this would be what she would be doing today,’ or ‘This is what she would be interested in.'”