Elmer ‘Sleepy’ Turner family
Elmer “Sleepy” Turner, son of Albert “Fat” and Ida Jane “Janie” GREENE Turner was born minutes before his twin, Elbert “Doll” Turner, on 20 March 1913.
Sleepy married Vela Mae SHEFFIELD (born 20 July 1921) daughter of James Monroe “Jim” and Lula Belle WALKER Sheffield of Almira Community near Linden on 21 December 1942 in Bro. Anderson’s living room at Piney Grove Store near Atlanta. They met when Vela was teaching school at Forest Hill near where the Turner family lived.
Sleepy was a lineman for Bowie Cass Electric Cooperative for thirty years, but before that he had cut wood or chopped cotton for $0.50 a day to help put the younger brothers and sisters through school.
He also worked for a short while at Red River Army Depot. Vela worked for Moseley’s Ford Motor Company for several years before getting a job in personnel at Thiokol Corporation in Karnack where she worked for over twenty years before retiring. They lived in Douglassville where Sleepy led the singing at the Douglassville Baptist Church until 1953 when they moved to Linden.
Sleepy was very ticklish and extremely sensitive to the touch. He also had a great fear of spiders. One time when the family moved, there was a rubber spider found behind the washing machine that Sleepy had put there by picking it up with a pair of pliers because he was tired of being teased with it by the kids.
Sleepy loved baseball. The Chicago Cubs were his team, but he also followed the Astros and the Rangers. He also, liked to hunt and fish. Vela loved to read and crochet. She loved football as much as Sleepy loved baseball. Her favorite team was the Dallas Cowboys, but she would watch any game as long as John Madden wasn’t the announcer. Vela was a very talented Sunday School teacher. Together they loved to sing gospel hymns and followed the singings all over a three states area. They celebrated their 51st anniversary before Sleepy died 30 July 1994 from cancer. Vela died from a heart attack 27 April 1999. They are both buried in Antioch Cemetery in Cass County. They had three children:
1. Doyce Elmer Turner (born 19 January 1944) married l)Veda Gayle Starks (born 12 May 1946) on 08 May 1964. They had one child, Tressa Gayle TURNER (born 10 July 1966). They were divorced in 1969. Tressa married Joyce Clay Garrett, son of Joyce Garrett of New Boston on 13 July 1990? He married 2)Carolyn Sue PATE Hill (born 26 September 1946) daughter of Noah and Mary Celia CARTER Pate of Center Grove near Linden on 18 December 1972. Doyce worked at NASA in Houston for a short time. He is a Vietnam veteran and a welder at Lone Star Steel for over thirty years.
2. Dixie Jo TURNER (born 09 September 1945) married Paul Clifton Webster, son of Carl Clifton “Dude” and Louise ERWIN Webster of Bear Creek near Linden on 28 November 1963. They have two children: Tracy Carla WEBSTER (born 08 August 1970) and Clay Clifton Webster (born 07 May 1975). Dixie is a deputy for the District Clerk’s Office in Linden. Both her children are nurses in Longview, TX.
3. Donna Gail TURNER (born 17 April 1952) married Paul Hugh Ayers, son of Roy and Lorayne WINKLE Ayers of Scroggins, TX, near Winnsboro on 25 June 1977. Donna and Paul both teach in Queen City. They have three children: Dayna Joyce AYERS (born 18 October 1978), Erika Layne AYERS (born 02 June 1982), and Paul’s son, Mark Elliott Ayers (born 18 August 1974) from a previous marriage who has lived with them since he was eight years old. Mark married Amy Michelle YATES, daughter of Gary and Jacqueline WILSON Yates of Queen City on 23 October 1993. They are the parents of a son, Matthew Allen Ayers (born 24 May 1994) and daughter, Macie Brianne Ayers (born 06 November 2000. Mark is a respiratory therapist at Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, AR. Dayna married Joshua Scott MASON (born 27 July 1977) son of Randall and Barbara ALLARD Mason of Atlanta, TX on 03 June 2000. Josh served as a Capitol Policeman in Austin for a year and a half before returning to Atlanta to serve as a State Trooper.
Submitted by: Donna Turner Ayers