Francis Jean Sweeney Turner

Francis Jean Sweeney Turner March 17, 1923 January 20, 2010 Francis J. Turner, 87, passed away Wednesday, January 20, 2010, in Georgetown, Texas. Graveside services will be 2:00 p.m., Monday, January 25, at Oakwood Cemetery in Waco. Mrs. Turner was born Francis Jean Sweeney in Hillsboro, Texas, on March 17, 1923, to Jean Varnell and Stella Mae Wilson Sweeney. The Varnell family founded one of the earliest ranches in Hill County, located in Bynum prior to the Civil War. Mrs. Turner's maternal grandfather served as a Hill County sheriff for many years, and she was the first child born in the old Hill County jail upstairs in the living quarters. Francis graduated from Bynum High School and then attended Hill Junior College in l941 and North Texas State College in l942. During the Second World War she was an inspector of B-29 bomber maintenance at the Eighth Service Command in Dallas. She married Thomas Turner, a native of Hillsboro, May 8, 1943. They lived in Houston where Turner worked as a police reporter for the Houston Post, and Mrs. Turner worked for the Hughes Tool Company. In l945 they moved to Dallas where Turner began a 22-year career with the Dallas Morning News. Mrs. Turner worked for the Dallas Time Herald. In 1949, the Turners moved to Waco when Thomas became the Central Texas Bureau Chief for the Dallas News. Francis was very involved in social, school and religious activities, serving as a charter member of the Junior Beaux Arts Literary Club, volunteering for the Town and Country Garden Cub, the Campfire Girls and holding various local and state PTA offices. She was among the first members of the Cogdell Memorial United Methodist Church, before transferring her membership to the First United Methodist Church of Waco. She was preceded in death by her husband of 65 years, Thomas E. Turner, who passed away in 2008. She is survived by her daughter, Terry Asbury and husband, Clint, of Centerville, Ohio; son Thomas E. Turner, Jr. Tommy and wife, Linda, of Georgetown, TX; five grandchildren and two great grandchildren; and a brother, Charles Sweeney of Bonanza, Oregon. Honorary pallbearers are her grandsons, Matthew Turner and Reece Asbury, and Steve Oleszek, Baxter Johns and Richard Wooten. The family wishes to thank the compassionate caregivers of Jeffrey Place and St. Catherine's Place in Waco and Georgetown Nursing and Rehab Center in Georgetown, who made these last years comfortable and safe for Francis. Memorials may be given to the Francis J. and Thomas E. Turner Scholarship Fund at Baylor University, care of Baylor University, One Bear Plaza # 97050, Waco, TX 76798; the Francis J. and Thomas E. Turner History Scholarship at Hill College, care of Hill College, 112 Lamar, Hillsboro, Texas, or the donor's choice. The family invites you to leave a message or memory in our "Memorial Guestbook" at www.wilkirsonhatchbailey.com.