SANTA FE -- Carl Monroe Turner, a former state lawmaker who was active with rural electric cooperatives and the Cumbres & Toltec railway, has died after a yearlong battle with prostate cancer. He was 87.

Turner, who served in the House from 1959-60, died Saturday. Born in East Tupelo, Miss., on Oct. 18, 1920, he moved from Mississippi to Socorro after the 1948 presidential election and opened a land title business that he operated until 1960.

Elected to a single term, Turner represented Socorro County before becoming the first and longest-serving executive manager of the New Mexico Rural Electric Cooperative Association in Santa Fe.

Turner also helped create the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad in the late 1960s.