Nadine Branson Turner

Funeral services for Nadine Branson Turner, 95, will be held on Monday, April 15, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. at the J. H. Churchill Funeral Home with Rev. Jim Stahler officiating. A eulogy will be read by Carolyn Marcum and a prayer by Dr. Rick Dye. Graveside services will follow at the Elmwood Cemetery in Owensboro, KY at 1:30 p.m.

Mrs. Turner died on Tuesday, April 9, at 5:35 pm at the Spring Creek Health Care Center.

Nadine Branson Turner was the wife of Thomas A. Turner, who preceded her in death on February 5, 1998. Mrs. Turner was born in Madisonville, Kentucky on August 30, 1917 to the late Walter R. and Willie Emma Reynolds Branson. Four brothers, Robert, Strother, Maurice, and Coleman Branson, one sister, Mary Ruth Welles, and one stepdaughter, Dorothy (Turner) Church, also preceded her in death.
As a registered nurse she had a long and productive career in nursing. She was a 1943 graduate of the Norton Memorial Infirmary School of Nursing in Louisville, KY. She later attained a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN and a Master's degree in Education from Murray State University.
Mrs. Turner was a U.S. Army nurse during World War II and served overseas and in the states and was one of three nurses out of eighty to attend the Army Anesthesia Program. While serving in England she administrated anesthesia to patients at the 140th General Hospital.
Mrs. Turner held positions both in Nursing Education and Nursing Services while teaching Medical - Surgical Nursing at Baylor University School of Nursing in Dallas, Texas. She was the first Education Director of the Owensboro-Daviess County Hospital School of Nursing when the school became affiliated with Murray State College. She was the Director of the School of Nursing at Decatur-Macon County Hospital in Decatur, Illinois.
Nursing service positions held include: Assistant Director of Nursing at the University of Texas Medical Center in Galveston, Texas; Head Nurse supervisor at the Veterans Hospital in Dayton, Ohio; Hopkins County Hospital Administrative Supervisor; and Director of Nursing at the Muhlenberg Community Hospital in Greenville, KY. Mrs. Turner came to Murray-Calloway County Hospital in 1964 where she served as Director of Nursing for 18 years until her retirement in 1982. Mrs. Turner's organizational skills and nursing ability helped establish the nursing department.
In 1992 she was recognized by the Kentucky Nurses Association for her 50 years of dedicated service for excellence in patient care and promoting the goals of the profession. This honor awarded her lifetime membership in the American and Kentucky Nurses Association and gratefully acknowledged the contribution she made in the profession.
Mrs. Turner served as a member of the American Nurses Association Ethical Standards Committee and helped to rewrite the Code of Ethics for Nurses.
She was a past president of the Kentucky Nurses Association for two years and was appointed by two governors to serve on the Kentucky Board of Nursing. In 1982, she was chosen as one of the 31-member nursing and health care delegation to the People's Republic of China (sponsored by the People-to-People Organization) where she presented a paper on "The Role of a Rural Hospital in Contemporary Clinical Education." After her retirement she wrote a book entitled "My Journey in Nursing," covering her 43 years as a registered nurse. One of her last honors came in 1994 when Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky presented Mrs. Turner with their Lifetime Achievement Award for Leadership in Nursing.
During her years in Murray she served the community through various organizations: Calloway County Heart Board, Adult Education and Literacy Board, Murray Woman's Club, Business and Professional Women, American Association of University Women, and the American Legion, Post 73.
Mrs. Turner was a lifelong Methodist and a member of the First United Methodist Church in Murray, KY.
Mrs. Turner is survived by two stepchildren, Thomas A. Turner, Jr. of Owensboro, KY, Mrs. Frances Jeanette (Turner) Mattingly of Tulsa, OK, one niece, Mrs. Susan Welles Pearce of Lexington, KY; eleven grandchildren, twenty-one great-grandchildren and ten great-great grandchildren; four great-nephews, two great-great nieces and one great-great nephew.
Viewing will be Sunday, April 14, 2013, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the funeral home.
Expressions of sympathy can be made to the First United Methodist Church, 503 Maple Street, Murray, KY 42071 or to the Nadine Turner Nursing Scholarship Fund at Murray State University.
Online condolences can be left at: www.thejhchurchillfuneralhome.com