Marilyn Turner

Marilyn Turner, 81, of Olathe, passed away on January 5, 2018. She was born in Detroit, Michigan on December 24, 1936 to Robert and Thelma (Holmes) Stone.

Marilyn grew up in Michigan having lived in several small towns but predominately in Howell, Michigan. She graduated from Howell High School in 1954. Olivet Nazarene College was ingrained in her heart with the help of influential believers at Howell Church of the Nazarene. Thus she enrolled and attended Olivet right out of high school.

She met J. Paul Turner on campus and they were married February 17th 1956. On February 18th J. Paul discovered it was not a good idea to trample on Marilyn's essence.

Eventually J. Paul changed his Air Force Reserve status and went into the regular Air Force. The Turner's found themselves doing tough duty at Tyndall Air Force Base, Panama City, Florida, just a block from the beach at St. Andrew's Bay. Marilyn's first and only living child, Karen Sue, was born here in 1959. A 13 month Air Force tour of duty to Korea found Marilyn living with her parents in back in Michigan.

After military service Marilyn and J. Paul finished their education at Bethany Nazarene College. During this time J. Paul was called into the ministry, was ordained in 1968 and in 1969 the Turner's wound up living back in Kansas City working in the areas of statistics and curriculum at Nazarene Headquarters.

Marilyn was good at statistics. She enjoyed the nickname of Stats Turner at Nazarene Headquarters. She labored in this role until 1989 when she and her husband moved to Nampa, Idaho to join the staff at College Church, Nampa. She was the driving force to change College Church finances from the abacus and Old Age Benefits to PC driven financial software. The journey was long and sometimes difficult but she made it fun!

Then it was back to Olathe in 1993 dutifully following her husband who joined the staff at College Church, Olathe. It wasn't long until the Office of the Nazarene General Secretary secured her services picking up where she left off juggling denominational stats.

Eventually, it was time to retire and she did so with grace and enthusiasm to cultivate authentic friendships; touch lives with compassion and care and enjoy the fun and challenge of two wonderful granddaughters who fulfilled her life.

Marilyn is survived by her loving husband, J. Paul; daughter, Karen (Kenneth) Baruth; granddaughters, Lauren (Jeff) Baruth-Stromberg and Rachael Baruth.

Visitation will be held in the College Church sanctuary, Tuesday, January 9th at 2:00 p.m. A memorial service will begin at 3:00 p.m. January 9th also at College Church.





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