Shirley Zona Turner

Shirley Devotie Turner, born October 22, 1943, passed away peacefully on October 16, 2024, at Lifecare Center, Jefferson City, Tennessee, from complications following a stroke. She was born in Greeneville, Tennessee, the sixth daughter of Albert and Sinna Devotie. Her mother, Sinna was a housewife, and her father Albert was a farmer. He was also a veteran of World War I and served in the Fighting Ninth Infantry Regiment, in the First Division of General Pershing’s American Expeditionary Forces. Shirley had many fond memories of her father, sitting on the front porch of their farmhouse playing a banjo and talking about the times when he had to jump into a foxhole to keep from being killed during the war. Her father was her hero. Shirley attended Lamar High School in Greeneville, Tennessee. Among all the jobs she had in her lifetime, she held in the highest regard her time as a certified nursing assistant and the honor of caring for others. You didn’t have to be around her very long before you knew that her faith in Jesus Christ was strong. For the past two decades of her life, she read the Bible daily and would be quick to tell you she lost count of how many times she had read through the Bible from front to back. Her reverence for the word of God and her faith in her Savior was something to admire and emulate. Shirley is preceded in death by her sister that died shortly after childbirth, her mother and father, and her sister Lois Morelock, of Greeneville, TN. She is survived by her sisters Emma Lee Ferguson, Marie Ward, and Janice Privette; a daughter, Teresa Turner, of Dandridge, Tennessee, and sons Ricky Turner of Newport, Tennessee, and Russell Turner (Tanya) of Jefferson City, Tennessee; grandchildren Eddie Avery, Kevin Poe, Anthony Turner, Tiffany Sanchez, and Rachel Turner., and several great grandchildren. A private service and celebration of her life will be held in the mausoleum chapel of Jefferson Memorial Gardens.