Chester was the eldest son of William Ace Turnidge and Alfretta Genevia Irwin. Prior to his 18th birthday he was working as a machinist and had a horrible accident when his arm got caught in a machine. He had to have his right arm amputated.

Chester married Edna Matilda Hendricks March 8, 1919 in Aberdeen, Washington. At the time of the marriage Chester was living in Willamina and employed as a toolkeeper for a shipbuilding company. It is assumed this marriage ended in divorce as they were living separately by 1920.

Chester married Marie Elizabeth Peters on July 20, 1924 at his father's home in Willamina, Oregon. Chester's Civil War veteran grandfather, Vincent Turnidge, performed the ceremony. Vincent was a Primitive Baptist Minister. Chester was employed as a salesman for the "Oregon Journal" newspaper.

Chester and Marie moved from Oregon to Los Angeles, California sometime between 1926-1930. In 1930 Chester was working as a sales manager for a distributor of distilled water. Between 1934-1935 he was working as a salesman for the Los Angeles Times. About 1938 they moved to South Gate, California and Chester went into the real estate business with his brothers Ersal and Norman. The business was very profitable, but the brothers did not get along, which caused problems.

Chester and Marie had one child, Warren Ace. Chester and Marie divorced in December 1944 in Los Angeles, California. Chester was a wife beater.

Chester died from a heart attack. Legally, son Warren was supposed to inherit everything, but brothers Ersal and Norman, along with Chester's father William, conspired together, refusing to give Warren his inheritance. William wrote Warren a check for $1 and told him that was all he would get. Warren wasn't able to fight this in court as he was still a minor, just out of high school with no money, so they got away with stealing all of Warren's inheritance. Warren never spoke to his Turnidge relatives for the rest of his life. He kept the uncashed check all his life as a reminder of his family's deceit. His uncles were wealthy men and became even wealthier from what they stole. Their families went on to have very nice, comfortable lives with plenty of money to have beautiful homes and send their children to expensive colleges. Warren struggled, with his first marriage ending in divorce due to stress from money problems. The deceit of his uncles directly impacted the rest of his life and that of his children.