The 1950 United States Census places the Turner family at 322 Vernon View Drive in Savannah, Georgia. Robert E. Turner — listed as Head of Household, age 39, born Mississippi, Occupation: President, Industry: Outdoor Advertising. His wife Florence M., age 40, born Ohio. His son Robert E. Jr., age 11, born Ohio. His daughter Mary J., age 8, born Ohio.
Robert E. Jr. was Ted Turner. The founder of CNN. The man who created the first 24-hour cable news network, launched TNT and TBS, owned the Atlanta Braves and the Atlanta Hawks, won the America's Cup in 1977, and gave one billion dollars to the United Nations. He was eleven years old at this address. His father had just moved the family from Cincinnati to Savannah so he could build a billboard company.
Ed Turner built Turner Advertising into one of the most successful outdoor advertising companies in the Southeast. He gave his son a work ethic and a restlessness and an understanding of the billboard business that Ted Turner would spend the rest of his life outrunning and outbuilding. Then in March 1963 Ed Turner committed suicide. He left a twenty-four year old Ted Turner in charge of a growing but deeply indebted company. Ted Turner did not sell. He built.
Ted Turner grew up sailing at the Savannah Yacht Club — beginning competitive racing at age eleven, the same year the census recorded him at this address. He attended McCallie School in Chattanooga at age twelve. He left Savannah but Savannah never entirely left him. He was inducted as a Georgia Trustee by the Georgia Historical Society in 2010 — an honor given to individuals whose accomplishments reflect the ideals of the founding Trustees of the Georgia colony.
Ted Turner died on May 6, 2026 at the age of 87. Every obituary published in the hours following his death noted that he grew up in Savannah. None of them named this address. DEED found it in the 1950 census — enumerated April 21, 1950, by enumerator Anna H. Bachman — the day after his death.
| Head | Turner, Robert E. · Age 39 · Born Mississippi |
| Occupation | President · Outdoor Advertising |
| Wife | Florence M. · Age 40 · Born Ohio |
| Son | Robert E. Jr. · Age 11 · Born Ohio · Ted Turner |
| Daughter | Mary J. · Age 8 · Born Ohio |
| Address | 322 Vernon View Drive, Savannah, Georgia |
| Enumerator | Anna H. Bachman · April 21, 1950 |
| Discovery | DEED History · May 7, 2026 |