Joycie Dean Turner of Allen, Texas passed away on May 17, 2021 at the age of 83. She was born on January 11, 1938 to Willie and Ida Mae (Webb) Anderson in the piney woods of Longview, Texas. The family belonged to Friendship CME Church and she accepted Christ at an early age. Joycie started school at the age of 4 and graduated from Mary C. Womack High School at the age of 16.
Inspired by her sister, Arzalia an LVN, and motivated by an earnest desire to help heal people both physically and spiritually, Joycie enrolled in 1954 at the age of 16 to Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital School of Nursing. She graduated at the top of her class in 1957. Joycie began her forty year nursing career in 1958, as the first African American operating room RN in Collin County at Collin County Hospital, later known as Collin Memorial Hospital. She touched many lives sharing, caring, and showing the love of Christ with her patients. Joycie loved working with doctors and they loved and respected her greatly. She enjoyed training and teaching nurses and orderlies how to flow in the OR. Longtime friendships were made, and the names of Rosa Lee Clemons, Jerry Bryant and Joycie Turner were well known throughout the hospital. Their friendship was a three cord strand, only broken by their deaths.
She considers the 1993 founding of the Fellowship Christian Center Church in her Allen home as one of her greatest accomplishments. The church has enriched the lives of several hundred members through the years and it is still in the process of building the kingdom of God.
Joycie enjoyed spending time reading the Bible. Her favorite book was the Gospel of John. She enjoyed calling friends and family to encourage and pray with them. Joycie especially enjoyed being a part of the church’s prayer line at the Malone house. She enjoyed expressing her love for family and friends by cooking and hosting dinners. Joycie especially enjoyed Sunday dinners after church. Her home was filled with laughter and fun times with her family and church family. She enjoyed teaching Sunday School and was the Superintendent for many years. Joycie also enjoyed walking in the river weekly at the Allen Natatorium with Mother Rubino Maxwell and Deacon R.L. Johnson. She was proud of and especially enjoyed supporting the Allen Eagle Football Team.
Education has always been very important to Joycie and a scholarship was founded in her name in 2006 that has blessed the lives of many underserved Collin County high school seniors, awarding over $124,000 to date.
Joycie was the recipient of the 2020 Collin County MLK Drum Major Award. The Drum Major Award was established by Dr. King to recognize individuals who have dedicated much of their lives to improving the human condition. She was also featured in the February 2018 edition of “The Allen Image” as a trailblazer.
Joycie is survived by her four children, son Vincent W. Turner (Tammy), Janna K. Morrison, Kathy A. Turner, and Homer L. Turner, Jr. (Sonia); eight grandchildren, Kevin Turner, Keasha Turner, Christie Palmertree (Donny), Maurier Turner, Courtney Terrell (Derrick), Matthew Morrison (Sesame), Xzandria Turner and Brandon Turner (Tristen); sixteen great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild, along with a host of nieces, nephews and church family and friends.
She is preceded in death by her parents, Willie and Ida Mae Turner; husband, Rev. Homer L. Tuner; sisters, Onita Burke and Arzalia Coyle; brothers, Alphonso, Bennie Albert, Louis, German, Willie Fred, and Reuben Anderson.
A visitation will be held on Friday, May 21, 2021 from 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m., at Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow Funeral Home. A funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, May 22, 2021 at Fellowship Christian Center Church in Plano, Texas. Interment is to follow the funeral service at Ridgeview Memorial Park in Allen.