Gene Lee Turner

Mr. Gene Lee Turner, 79, of Graham passed away at Duke University Medical Center in Durham on Tuesday, March 6, 2018.

Gene was born in Orange County, NC near Hillsborough.  He was the son of Solon Farmer Turner and Effie Neville Turner Duncan and the step-son of, Ernest Earl Duncan, all deceased.  He spent most of his youth in Mebane, where he graduated from Mebane High School After graduation, he went on to East Carolina University and Elon College.  Baseball and Golf were his major sports.  He was a lifelong fan of the University of North Carolina Tarheels, football and basketball.  In addition to sports, he was an Extra Ham Operator licensed by the FCC with call WJ4T that he used to contact all countries of the world using Morse Code and Voice.

His working life started as a butcher with Colonial Stores, sales with Sears and then 40 years with AT&T.  At AT&T, he started in drafting and moved into management in the Information Systems, later retiring as a manager in Human Resources.

Linda Turner was his wife of 44 years before her death in October 2014.  They were very dedicated to each other, seldom seeing one without the other.  They often attended musical performances and enjoyed their beach home and time in the sand.

Gene is survived by two sons, Tim Lee Turner of Burlington and Mark Lynn Turner and his wife, Lynda of Cedar Grove; daughter, Leslie Turner Elliott of Midlothian, VA; and several grandchildren and great grandchildren.

In addition to his wife and parents, he was preceded in death by his sister, Maxine McCauley.

A memorial service will be conducted at the Rich & Thompson Chapel in Graham on Friday, March 9, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. by Rev. Norman M. Whitney, Sr. Gene and Linda’s cremated remains will be buried together at the Hawfield’s Presbyterian Church Cemetery.

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