Thomas E Turner

Thomas E. Turner November 7, 1921 August 16, 2008 Thomas E. Turner, 86, of Waco, passed into the arms of the Lord on Saturday, August 16, 2008 following a lifetime of learning, love and laughter. Funeral services will be at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, August 19 at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Chapel with burial to follow at Oakwood Cemetery. Visitation with the family will be from 6 8 p.m., Monday, August 18 in the Garden Room at the funeral home. Turner overcame abject wrong-side-of-the-track Depression-era poverty and deafness to attain award-winning careers in journalism, history, and higher education. He was born in Hillsboro, Texas on November 7, 1921 to William H. Turner and Ada Jane Thompson Turner, both members of pioneer Hill County families. From elementary school through Hillsboro Junior College, he was voted an outstanding student by his teachers and fellow students. An avid reader from childhood, he began writing and covering sports for the Hillsboro "Mirror" as a teenager in order to see games free. He was a squadman on the 1939 Hillsboro Eagles football team and an all-star softball pitcher. At the urging of a boyhood friend, Bob Owens, he hitchhiked to Austin in 1939 to enroll at the University of Texas. While working at the University's cafeteria eight hours daily, he became a columnist for the school's Daily Texan. He had to drop out of UT to begin a series of major operations on both ears. He had lost most of his hearing due to infections and lack of medical attention as a child. While undergoing ear surgery in Houston in 1942, he became the youngest police reporter in the history of the "Houston Post". In 1945, he joined the Dallas "Morning News" staff. Two years later he reopened the Central Texas News Bureau of the News in Waco which had been closed during World War II. He held the post as Central Texas Bureau Chief for 20 years covering every aspect of news - civic, crime, politics, education, catastrophe, religion, human interest, military, and sports. He single-handedly covered the state's worst tornado which ravaged downtown Waco in May of 1953. The tornado took 114 lives and Turner and his wife and two children escaped death by only minutes as well. Turner received a unique assortment of "firsts" in his journalistic career, notably in his coverage of Baptist affairs. He was a life-long Methodist, descended from preachers, but due to his double-career of covering Baylor University and later on the BU staff, he wrote more about it and Baptists than any other writer of modern times. He was the first non-Baptist to receive the Annual Press Award of Texas Baptists; the first non-Baptist ever to receive an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor at Belton; and the first to receive the annual Texas Baptist Society's Church History Writing Award for a volume he authored on Baylor's first Board of Trustees. Unable to enlist in World War II because of severe ear problems, he devoted a large portion of his career to paying tribute to those who did serve in U.S. wars. He was honored with several awards from the U.S. Air Force. For his years of covering summer training camps at Fort Hood, he was made an honorary member of the Texas National Guard's famed 36th Infantry T-Patch Division, as well as three other Divisions. He was the first civilian ever awarded the Texas National Guard's Minuteman Award. He was also honored to have known four recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Civilian honors included awards from Hill College, Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce and many others. In 1967 he was persuaded to the leave the Dallas Morning News to become Personal Assistant to Abner V. McCall, President and later Chancellor of Baylor University. Their professional association matured into a deep personal friendship for more than 20 years and Turner became McCall's closest confidante until the latter's death. While serving as McCall's "right-hand-man" at Baylor University, Turner continued his lifelong fascination with researching and writing history about the military, the Texas Revolution, WWII, the Civil War and Baylor. He wrote literally thousands of articles for magazines, newspapers, and reference works as well as several books. He was a "walking encyclopedia" on anything connected to history and was happiest when sharing this wonderful knowledge. He became a popular public speaker and Sunday School teacher for the Wesleyan Workers at First United Methodist Church of Waco. Due to his own struggles with poverty as a youth, Turner always had an innate regard for the unheralded heroes of America whom he preferred over the powerful and famous celebrities he often met. Through his typewriter, first the manual and then an electric - but never a word processor, he wrote of the small towns, the forgotten ones in history, the struggling and the righteous. His rich sense of humor and quick wit made him a joy to be around. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Francis Sweeney who was his teenage sweetheart and lifelong bride. He is also survived by a son, Tommy Turner, Jr. and wife Linda of Georgetown; daughter, Terry Jean Asbury and husband Clint of Centerville, OH; five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. The family wishes to thank the many caregivers who made his life easier as the days wound down, and the many friends who comforted him both through his life and as it ended. We encourage all those who learned a little piece of history from him at one time or another to share it.he would love that. Honorary pallbearers are Richard Wooten, Steve Oleszek, Dalton Jaynes, Joe Spivey, Bill Aman, Chad Wooten, Roger Banks, Norman Nossaman, Rufus Spain, Herb Bristow, James Ward and Stanley Williams. Memorials may be given to the Thomas E. and Francis J. Turner History Scholarship Fund at Baylor University, to the Thomas E. and Francis J. Turner Scholarship Fund at Hill College or to a charity of your choice. The family invites you to leave a message or memory in our "Memorial Guestbook" at www.wilkirsonhatchbailey.com. Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey