Palestine High School Alumni Association

01 / 04 / 1935  –  11 / 18 / 2009

Sylvia “Gay” Turner, 74, of Sun City-Georgetown, passed away November 18, 2009 in a Austin hospital. Dr. Jim Porter and Rev. Brenda Adkins will officiate at the funeral service on Monday, Nov. 23, 2009 at 11:00 am in First United Methodist Church of Georgetown, 410 East University Blvd. Interment will take place at 2:00 pm Monday in Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen.

Gay was born January 4, 1935 in Palestine, Texas to Newell Archie and Edith Marie (Thompson) Lester. She grew up in Palestine attending Palestine High School, graduating in 1954 and went to Tyler Junior College, graduating in 1956. Gay married Robert Burton Turner on January 1, 1957 in Palestine and then followed him to Rhode Island while he was in the Navy. Gay settled in as a homemaker and mother, caring for her family was her passion. Robert and Gay lived for many years in the Freeport/Lake Jackson area and they were longtime member of Chapelwood United Methodist Church. The family settled into Georgetown in 1997 where they joined First United Methodist Church.

Gay is preceded in death by her parents and her husband Robert, who died in early October of this year.

She leaves to cherish her memory children, Susan K. Pacheco and husband Ralph and Stephen Burton Turner; sister, Mary Ann Turner and husband John; brothers, Ben N. Lester and wife Marsha and Jimmy Lester; grandchildren, Genevieve Pacheco, Madeline Pacheco, and Raphael Pacheco, along with nieces, nephews and other loving family members.

The family suggests contributions be made in her name to First United Methodist Church: Bill Jones Scholarship Fund, The Organ Fund, or Praise and Promise Fund; or the American Cancer Society.

Words of comfort may be shared with the family online at: www.gabrielsfuneral.com.

Source: Palestine Herald-Press 11-21-2009