Introduction

Biography

Turner was the son of John Mills Turner, Sr., and Em­ma Eo­line Jen­nings, and hus­band of Flor­ence Irene Mc­Don­ald.

He stu­died at Lynch­burg Col­lege (now the Uni­ver­si­ty of Lynch­burg), Lynch­burg, Vir­gin­ia (BA 1928), and the Col­lege of the Bi­ble (BD 1936). In 1958, At­lan­tic Chris­tian Col­lege (now Bar­ton College, Wil­son, North Ca­ro­li­na) gave him an ho­nor­ary Doc­tor of Di­vi­ni­ty de­gree.

He was an as­sis­tant pro­fess­or of re­li­gion and phi­lo­so­phy at Lynch­burg Col­lege (1936–39), and pre­si­dent of the col­lege’s Alum­ni As­so­ci­ation.

In ad­di­tion, he served pas­tor­ates in:

• Cape Town, South Af­ri­ca, 1939-41
• Corbin, Ken­tuc­ky, 1941-45
• Washington, DC, 1945-52
• New Bern, North Ca­ro­lina, 1953-60
• West Point, Georg­ia, 1960-69
• Charlotte, North Ca­ro­l­ina, 1969-71