Mrs. Ruth Hall Turner, age 90, godly wife and mother and faithful servant of Christ, went to be with the Lord on Nov. 16, 2009. A longtime resident of Vicksburg, having also lived in Clinton and Ridgeland for several years before recently returning, she was a native of Lexington, Miss. She met her beloved husband, the late Robert Turner, a Kosciusko native, while they were students at Holmes Junior College in Goodman. After graduating from Holmes Junior College, she later attended the University of Mississippi while her husband obtained an engineering degree following his graduation from Mississippi College in 1940.

As newlyweds, they had lived at Forest Hill where her husband was a teacher and band director.

After her husband graduated from Ole Miss, they moved to Vicksburg where she worked for the U.S. Weather Bureau. She was also secretary to the Rev. Thomas Prewitt, pastor of Crawford Street Methodist Church, where she served as Sunday school superintendent and taught Sunday school and Vacation Bible School. 

At the onset of World War II, she accepted a position with the Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg and transferred to Kelly Field, Texas, then to Tinker Field, Okla., where her husband was stationed. After his deployment to Guam, she lived in Vicksburg where, following World War II, she and her husband both transferred to the Waterways Experiment Station. Upon the birth of their only child, in 1953, she became a full-time homemaker. In the late 1960s, she taught the visually impaired and was a charter member of the Mississippi Association of Workers for the Blind.

Mrs. Turner was a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church, P.C.A., in Vicksburg. She and her husband had been founding members of the First Methodist Protestant Church in Vicksburg where she taught Sunday School and through which she and her husband served on staff at Whittworth College in Brookhaven, Miss., following his retirement from government service. Upon moving to Clinton in 1997, they united with Providence Presbyterian Church, P.C.A., where they were members at the time of Mr. Turner’s death in 2002.

Mrs. Turner was a member of the Ashmead Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, in which she served as chaplain and assisted with the Sarah Randolph Boone Society, Children of the American Revolution. She was known for her patriotism, which she took seriously, having volunteered countless hours during local, state and national campaigns.

Her daughter recalled with fondness childhood memories of her mother’s garden club activities including sponsorship of a junior garden club, through which Ruth shared her love for growing plants and flowers that her mother, Daisy, taught her as a child.

Other memories included that of her mother’s teaching a sewing circle for elementary school girls in her home and assisting with talent shows, puppet shows and “Living Pictures” at Halls Ferry Road Elementary School in Vicksburg. Later, volunteering at Vicksburg’s Cooper High School as a choir parent, Mrs. Turner delighted in hosting rehearsals of the Madrigal Singers in her home and was an enthusiastic patron of the musical stage productions at the school. With equal enthusiasm she supported the Louisiana Tech University Choral Department’s activities and musical stage productions, hosting the touring Concert Choir in her home.

Mrs. Turner often said that her greatest blessings were her parents, her husband and her daughter, whom she said always had a smile and brought her great joy. She recently wrote that her son-in-law was “such a joy… always willing to help me.” In the last few months, she had reminisced that her mother and father, John and Daisy Hall, “were the most kind, wonderful, loving and supportive parents.” She said she looked forward to being with all of them in heaven.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Turner, after 62 years of marriage; adoptive parents, John Newton Hall and Daisy Middleton Hall; natural parents, Harry Mitchell Leech and Audry Williamson Leech; sisters, Martha Linda Hall Ables and Agnes Brough King; brothers, Cecil Leech and Harry Leech Bandy; and two grandchildren. 

She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Martha Ann Diaz and Luis Diaz of Flora; sister, Mrs. William (Dorothy) Gann of Chattanooga, Tenn.; sisters-in-law, Mrs. Leonard (Wardine) Elmore of Bartlett, Tenn., and Mrs. Harry (Dot) Bandy of West Point; cousins, Miss Dorothy Dennis of Clarksdale and Warren Dennis Jr. of Boone, N.C.; and several nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews and many dear friends.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009, at Glenwood Funeral Home with the Rev. Scott Reiber officiating. Burial will follow at Green Acres Memorial Park. Visitation will be from 1 p.m. until the hour of the service.

Pallbearers will be Bob LaBarre, Jimmy Harrison, Greg Elmore, Jere Lawson, Ronald Turner, John Turner and Hugh Green. Butch Wilson is an honorary pallbearer.

Remembrances may be extended to Westminster Presbyterian Church, P.C.A., 3601 Halls Ferry Road, Vicksburg, MS 39180.