As we have lost, Heaven has gained another angel. Catherine Louise Turner, 90 of Wheelersburg, Ohio passed away March 27, 2020, at her home with family by her side.
She was born May 1, 1929, in Portsmouth, Ohio to the late Frank and Mary Morrison. Growing up in New Boston, Ohio during The Great Depression, the Ohio River Flood of ’37 and World War II created a lasting impression on her childhood. Fearing the dangers of the Portsmouth Steel Mill strike and seeking a peaceful life, her parents moved the family “up Germany Hollow” to the country.
There Catherine attended 4th grade in a one-room school in Vernon. She went on to graduate from Bloom Township High School where she excelled musically as well as academically. Those talents helped carry her throughout her 40+ year career as organist and choir director for Saint Peter’s Catholic Church, Wheelersburg, Ohio. It was during those earlier years at Saint Peter’s where she met an altar boy named Forest “Bud” Turner. Over many masses, holy days, church picnics and square dances, they served and played until their wedding day on April 19, 1952.
Bud and Catherine raised six children on Turner Farms. They would say their greatest accomplishment was seeing their children succeed. With that achievement came much hard work and sacrifice. Catherine was a person of deep faith, moral compass, and good stock. Her role as wife, mother, and farmer was as woven into the fabric of her soul as the beads around a rosary. Her hospitality and excellent cooking always planned for one more unannounced visitor at mealtime. As an advisor to the “Lickrunners” 4H club, young girls learned with first place precision how to lay a pattern, tailor a dress or make their first Snickerdoodle.
Catherine had a talent for decorating her home and a green thumb for growing her floral gardens from seed. No one could keep up with her tireless life as a farmer’s wife – from riding the tractors at 5 am to grading eggs, packing corn, maintaining the greenhouses and sneaking out after midnight to prepare boxes for the next day’s produce. God’s work.
Catherine Turner is survived by her three sons, Tom (Becky) Turner, John (Lisa) Turner and Richard Turner; three daughters, Becki (Lou) Schoettle, Regina (Dan) Damiani and Cathee (Bill) Winegardner; two sisters, Maryann (Dave) Sommer, Patricia (Bill) Niemer; twelve grandchildren, Tom, Jackie, Andrew Turner; Louis Schoettle, Anna, Paul, and Joe Damiani; Christopher, Matthew, and Peter Winegardner; Corey and Emily Turner and three great-granddaughters, Mia and Caroline Archer and Lucy.
In addition to her parents, Catherine was preceded in death by her husband, Forest “Bud” Turner, April 17, 2015; brother, Carl Morrison; four sisters, Norma Bauman, Dorothy Bihl, Ruth Bihl, and Eleanor Niemer.
Due to health restrictions, a private graveside service will take place with Father Joseph Yokum officiating. Burial will be at Saint Peter Catholic Church cemetery, Wheelersburg, Ohio. A funeral mass and celebration of life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the Turner family suggests memorial contributions can be made in her honor to your favorite charity or to the Priests of Scioto County: Attn: Fr. Joseph Yokum, Scioto Catholic Office, 514 Market Street, Portsmouth, Ohio 45662 or you can also plant a beautiful spring flower in her name. She’d like that. Arrangements have been entrusted to Harrison-Pyles Funeral Home in Wheelersburg