Mary Nell Turner
Mary Nell Carter Turner was a student with Joe Hill at Henderson State Teachers College (HSTC) during the late 1930s and early 1940s. During World War II, her husband McDowell Turner served in the Pacific Theater in New Guinea and the Philippines while Mary Nell stayed behind and worked at HSTC.
After the war the couple returned to their hometown of Hope, Arkansas, where she taught for 28 years and he worked for the U. S. Postal Service. They raised two daughters, Ellen Turner and Susan Turner Purvis, who was a Master Teacher with the Japanese American National Museum's "Life Interrupted" project.
At the age of 90 she continues to research and write articles on local history. Last spring Mary Nell enrolled in the local community college where she set the curve in her Arkansas history class.
* Please feel free to contact her at: marynellturner@gmail.com or 870.777.2491 or Mary Nell Turner, 149 Highway 32E, Hope, AR 71801.
Updated December 2009
Stories from This Author
My Friend: Joseph Wallace Hill (1915-1973)
Dec. 24, 2009 • Mary Nell Turner
Joseph Wallace Hill graduated from Henderson State Teachers College (now Henderson State University) in Arkadelphia, Arkansas in May, 1942, as did I. Our class was small because most of the young men had either been drafted or enlisted in a branch of the Service. Joe was a first lieutenant in the Reserve Officers Training Corps at the college, as were several other graduates and did not report for duty until June 1, 1942, and so they “got to walk” in …
