Rodney Turner

1988

Courtesy of the Lee Library Special Collections and Brigham Young University

1922 – 2014

Rodney Turner, our beloved husband, father, and grandfather passed from mortality at the age of 91, Nov. 5, 2014. He was born Nov. 18, 1922 in Norfolk, VA, the youngest of 10 children. His family moved to New York City at the start of the Great Depression where he and his mother were the first of his family members converted to the LDS Church when he was 8 years old. Shortly after finishing high school in New York, he was drafted into the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II and was a ball turret gunner on a B-24 bomber while stationed in Italy.

Upon his release from the service as staff sergeant, he obtained his BA and MA degrees and married his eternal companion, Bonnie Lou Dalley while attending Brigham Young University. He served as an LDS Seminary teacher and principal and earned his Doctorate in Education from the University of Southern California. In 1956, he began 32 years as instructor and professor at BYU in the College of Religious Instruction. He greatly enjoyed his association with the religion faculty. Since his retirement in 1988, he was often approached by his former students thanking him for his great insights and inspired teaching of the Gospel.

He was well known for his stimulating lectures and published works. He wrote numerous articles for church publications. His published books include Woman and the Priesthood, The Footstool of God: Earth in Scripture and Prophecy, This Eternal Earth, and Jesus and Joseph, which he wrote when he was 83 years old. He loved poetry and wrote numerous poems. His poetic abilities expanded to include writing lyrics to church hymns in partnership with fellow ward member, Janice Kapp Perry, who wrote the music.

He served in church callings throughout his life and was bishop of the BYU 4th Ward and the Pleasant View 8th Ward in Provo. He served on church committees, as a stake high councilor, temple worker, in a branch presidency at the Missionary Training Center, and as a gospel doctrine teacher. After retirement, he and his wife served an education mission to Hawaii in 1993. He also was a tour guide to Israel and taught at the Jerusalem Center.

He enjoyed fishing, golfing, gardening, writing, and eating ice cream. He loved to be by the ocean having grown up by the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. All of his children fondly remember the many fishing trips to Strawberry Reservoir with Dad.

In his testimony he wrote, I testify that, in spite of lifes trials and disappointments, our all-wise Father is both just and merciful and that the righteous life is the truly intelligent life, and the only life worth living.

He is survived by his devoted wife, Bonnie Lou; their 6 children: sons, Michael (Cindy), Evan (Judy), Stephen (Debbie), Jeffrey (Sheri); daughters: Tracy (John Tallent) and Rebecca (Mark Hansen); 32 grandchildren and 56 great-grandchildren.

From his obituary in the Daily Herald, found here: https://www.heraldextra.com/lifestyles/announcements/obituaries/rodney-turner/article_4956fcde-525a-50de-84ae-4f68f495711d.html