DeAnna Noblitt Turner

Some concede that their loved ones lost the long battle with cancer. DeAnna didn’t lose the battle. After an eighteen-month struggle, and with God’s grace, she left the glioblastoma brain tumor with her earthly body and moved home into her heavenly body on August 26, 2017. DeAnna was born December 30, 1944 in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as the only child of Dorothy Slay Noblitt and Gene Edwin Noblitt, and moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana when she was in the second grade.

DeAnna remained there gaining a Master’s degree from Louisiana State University in clothing and textiles in 1968. Fred Turner, also in L.S.U. graduate school, was asking God for a girlfriend that didn’t drink beer or smoke and taught children’s Sunday school, when one of his Christian mentors suggested that he call DeAnna. They married on August 12, 1967. DeAnna encouraged Fred to consider international employment and they spent the next two years in India, employed by the Ford Foundation, where their daughter, Debbie, was born in 1970.

After inspiring and helping Fred earn a Ph.D. from North Carolina State University, she gave birth to their son, Drew, in 1974, in Beaumont. The same year, Fred began employment with Texas A&M University at the rice research center.

DeAnna, a stay at home mom, exercised her exceptional skills in service to others. She assisted Fred socially and ensured that he wrote professionally. She instilled in Debbie and Drew the ability to gain scholarships and university degrees without debt. DeAnna taught children’s Sunday School at Calder Baptist Church for about twenty-five years. With a group of ladies known as “The Kitchenettes,” she delighted in preparing nutritious, appealing, tasty lunches for Holy Week, special events, and the WMU (Women’s Missionary Union at Calder Baptist Church). Over the years, she held multiple positions within the WMU. She exercised her gift of hospitality by serving as long term wedding coordinator and hospitality chair. She served in officer positions for the Tyler County Forest Land Owners Association (Woodville), as well as three years on the Texas Forestry Association Board. She also volunteered with Habitat for Humanity regularly.

DeAnna read one hundred books per year and enjoyed crossword and Sudoku puzzles. She never saw a kid that didn’t have great potential, a flower that wasn’t uniquely beautiful, a baby animal (wild or tame) that wasn’t cute, or an unfamiliar road she didn’t want to travel and explore. Traveling to other countries and within the United States seemed to shift her into a higher gear, leaving Fred straining to keep up. She inspired her family to be better through her love, principles, intelligence, never settling for second best, poise, creative ideas, persistence in neatness and order, and ability to stand-up and articulately express herself. She was quoted as jokingly stating “Everyone has a right to an opinion, as long as it is not different than mine”!

She is survived by her husband, Dr. Fred Turner; son, Drew Turner, of Magnolia; daughter, Debbie Reasons and her husband, John, of Bellville; grandsons, Westin and Daniel Reasons; and sister-in-law, Judy Bisotto and her husband, Ric, of London, England.

We salute her professional, compassionate caregivers: Stephanie Williams, Joy Mancow, and Cathryn Anne Liboro.

A gathering of Mrs. Turner’s family and friends will begin at 1:00 p.m., with her memorial service and Celebration of Life to follow at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, September 23, 2017 at Calder Baptist Church, 1005 North 11th Street, Beaumont. Her private family committal was held at Broussard’s Crematorium, Beaumont, under the direction of Broussard’s, 1605 North Major Drive, Beaumont.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Calder Baptist Church, 1005 North 11th Street, Beaumont, Texas 77702 or to Habitat for Humanity, 610 Trinity Street, Beaumont, Texas 77701.