Shirley Layne Turner

TULSA, Okla. - Shirley Layne (Russell) Turner, 89, died Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, at her home, surrounded by her children. She was born Oct. 21, 1935 in Mulberry, Ark., the daughter of Claude Lane Russell and Bertha Beatrice (Jackson) Russell. She spent her childhood in Ozark, Ark., where she excelled as a student and musician. She played clarinet in the school band and took piano lessons. She was salutatorian of her senior class at Ozark High School. Shirley learned to sew from her mother and both took pride in the clothes they made for family members and friends. In 1953, she enrolled at Hendrix College in Conway, Ark. On her first day of class, she and her friends noticed a good-looking, curly-headed man who appeared a bit older than the other freshman boys. A few minutes later, that man, an Air Force veteran named Dewell Edward Turner, tapped Shirley on the shoulder and asked, "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?" "I don't know," she replied. "Where have you been?" That was the start of a 71-year romance. Shirley dated Dewell all through college and they were married June 29, 1957, just after they both graduated from Hendrix. Shirley taught elementary school in Little Rock and Pine Bluff before starting a family in 1959. Shirley spent the next 30 years as a homemaker and mother, raising her three children and navigating six family moves, the last to Tulsa in 1971. The house the Turners bought on Columbia Place would be their home for the next 52 years. In the mid-1980s, she began working part-time at a women's dress boutique, Country Casuals. Shirley, always a snappy dresser, took to the job quickly and attracted a number loyal customers, many of whom became her friends. In 1992, after Dewell retired, they bought the store, renamed it Shirley's Country Casuals and operated it for another five years. Shirley's love of sewing led her to a number of craft hobbies over the years. She took great pride in making Christmas stockings for each member of her growing family. Shirley was a gregarious, feisty lady who loved to tell stories with an occasional embellishment for dramatic effect. She also loved to laugh and often good-naturedly sparred with her husband and children. Her family often observed that no matter where they went with Shirley, she would find someone she knew. She made friends easily, from the staffs at her favorite restaurants to her caretakers at Town Village. She showed love kindness to all. Shirley was a faithful member of a Methodist church in whatever town she and Dewell called home. Soon after moving to Tulsa, the family joined Christ United Methodist Church, now Christ Church on Harvard, where they both became active members, serving as delegates to Annual Conference. They were longtime members of the Wesley Sunday school class. Shirley was preceded in death by her parents and her husband and 67 years, Dewell, who died just six weeks before. She is survived by her three children, Lori Leigh (Turner) Crane and her husband David of Mansfield, Ohio, Russell Loyd "Rusty" Turner and his wife Anita of Rogers, Ark., and Jeffery Lane Turner and his wife Kerry of Tulsa; her brother-in-law, O.D. Turner of Little Rock, Ark.; five grandsons, Stephen Andrew Turner and his wife Amber of Benton, Kan., Philip Lloyd Crane of Lexington, Va., Zachary Lane Turner of Tulsa, Matthew Thomas Turner and his wife Brittany of Springdale, Ark., and Marc Alan Turner of Tulsa; three great-grandchildren, Eliza Grace, Nathaniel James and Lillian Hope Turner, all of Benton; and many in-laws, cousins, nieces, nephews and dear friends. Visitation will be 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, at Moore Rosewood Chapel, 2570 S. Harvard Ave., in Tulsa. Funeral will be 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, at Christ Church on Harvard, 3515 S. Harvard Ave., with the Rev. Bob Feist officiating. Interment will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa. Memorial gifts may be made to Christ Church on Harvard or Hendrix College.

Shirley Layne Turner

October 21, 1935 - December 1, 2024