Granite Shoals 'senior' citizen marks 100 years

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

When Evelyn Turner blew out the candle on her 100th birthday cupcake March 7, it wasn't the first birthday ceremony she had performed in Granite Shoals.

Considered the city's elder citizen at 99 last year, she blew out the candles at the Granite Shoals 50th Birthday Bash on April 23.

This time it was performed at a surprise party. Anne Williams, who holds court with the popular resident at regular appointments at Anne's Hair Country staged the party for friends, family and admirers. Far from frail, she was bubbling right along with guests about having everyone together.

When Granite Shoals Mayor Carl Brugger arrived, it was with a proclamation in hand, declaring March 7 as Evelyn Lee Turner Day in the city.

T he document, prepared with the aid of the birthday girl's son, James L. “Lynn” Turner, encapsulated her century on planet earth from the beginning: “born Evelyn Lee Chambers in Kansas City, Missouri, March 7, 1917 to Willard and Florence Chambers.”

“Evelyn Turner was born before women had the right to vote,” read the proclamation. “She frequently listened to stories when she was a young girl about how her great-grandmother came to Kansas in a covered wagon with 'Indians' watching them intently every step of the way.”

“I liked to hear it because it was scary,” said Evelyn.

She graduated from Olathe High School in Olathe, Kansas, before moving to Texas. After the Great Depression, the family followed her grandparents to Dallas County where they operated a Segoville grocery store.

Although she attended business school in Dallas and worked in professional offices, all that changed when Evelyn Chambers married James L. “Jim” Turner in 1939 and welcomed the job of full-time homemaker when their son arrived the next year.

The Turners, avid fishermen all, purchased property in Granite Shoals in 1963 with that in mind. It was, the proclamation noted “a time before the city was incorporated and when FM 1431 was a gravel road with numerous cattle guards across it.”

In later years, Evelyn was able to come to live in Granite Shoals with her mother and it was in Granite Shoals where she found the First Baptist Church family she still treasures. Her mother played piano and organ for the church and Evelyn sang in the choir.

“Because she loves meeting new people and learning about new cultures, Evelyn has been a world traveler,” the proclamation continues. “She has visited more than 53 countries. In the company of her son, she has visited the Philippines, Turkey, China, Australia, Saudi Arabia, South America, Russia and most of the European countries. They have been to Canada, Morocco and numerous Caribbean and Greek Islands.

“Evelyn's life so far has included the Great Depression, party lines on the telephone, World Wars I and II, penicillin, the discovery of the Salk Vaccine (for polio), John F. Kennedy's assassination, the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall, television, space travel and the inventions of the microprocessor, the Internet and the mobile phone.”

“Of all the ladies whose hair I've ever done, she is the only one who asks for ice cold water on her scalp at the end of a shampoo in the middle of winter,” said Williams.

Evelyn didn't miss a beat, “Since I was little (and that would have been in Kansas winters) I learned to put cold water on your head in wintertime to close your pores.”

She still fishes on rare occasion with her son, but First Baptist captures more or her time these days.

“My church family comes first,” she said. “It is the best part of living in Granite Shoals.

“The Lord is in command; that's the secret of life,” said Evelyn, who has cheerfully given up globe trotting. “I don't use a cane or crutches and I can still drive to church and to Anne's. My son can take me anywhere else. That's all I need.”