Mr. Billy Joe Turner's Obituary
Life Epitome: Inspired by Professor Turner’s Notes
A native Texan, Billy Joe Turner was born in Lufkin, Texas on March 28, 1945 to Ollie B. Turner and Artee Johnson. He began to develop his intellectual capacity at an early age through attendance at Mrs. Navarro O’Neal’s Kindergarten in Conroe, Texas. From 1950 to 1963, he continued to expand his intellect at Booker T. Washington School in Conroe, with exception of the 1954-55 and 1956-57 school years. Having accomplished the goal he was equipped to achieve, he graduated from Booker T. Washington School as Valedictorian of his class on May 30, 1963.
His academic achievement afforded him the opportunity to receive the Texas State Tuition Scholarship, which he used to begin his undergraduate studies at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas. For the ensuing four years at TSU, he capitalized on the myriad intellectual, social, and economic opportunities afforded him. During each semester of his enrollment, he acquired the distinction of honor roll student, often earning a place on the Dean’s List. A gifted and precocious student, he obtained the English Department’s highest ranking English Major Award from 1964-1967. In 1965, he was awarded the competitive TSU Alliance Francaise de Houston French Club Scholarship for summer study in France. He spent six weeks in Tours, France at the Institute of Touraine. As a capstone event during his undergraduate sojourn at TSU, he was accorded the opportunity to attend an intensive summer studies program at ivy league universities for gifted undergraduate students matriculating at HBCUs and majority institutions. He chose to pursue this opportunity at Yale University during the Summer of 1966.
Before graduating in 1967 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, Magna Cum Laude, he competed for the Woodrow Wilson and Danforth Scholarships for graduate study. He was awarded a partial Woodrow Wilson Scholarship, as well as a Bradford and Seay Fellowship by the English Department at the University of Virginia. Subsequently, he pursued his Master of Arts in English at the University of Virginia, with an emphasis on Early American Literature. Upon completion of his degree, he returned to his alma mater, Texas Southern University, and began a career as Instructor of English. Some time later, he was promoted to Assistant Professor of English and granted tenure in the Department of English and Foreign Languages (currently identified as the Department of English, World Languages, and Philosophy).
For over forty-five years, Professor Turner advanced the dictums of grammar and composition to many students. He taught in the Inroads Houston Program for high school juniors and seniors at Rice University, helped design the Graduate English Proficiency Examination for students at TSU, served as instructor of honor students in the TSU Frederick Douglass Honors Institute (now Thomas Freeman Honors College), and conducted writing workshops for graduate students in the TSU College of Education.
His professional endeavors also included involvement with the Southern Conference of the Modern Language Association, the Southern Conference on African American Studies, and work with the journal for Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States. He often chaired or co-chaired sessions at the annual meetings of these professional associations.
Over a decade after his retirement from TSU, in 2022, the Department of English, World Languages, and Philosophy named an annual scholarly initiative in his honor, The BJT Interdisciplinary Symposium. This honor is shared with his former high school classmate, Dr. Patricia Robinson Williams, for whom the writing award of the symposium is named.
Professor Turner often commented that his commitment to the welfare of his family did not allow him to invest the time and resources in pursuit of the Doctor of Philosophy. He did, however, begin his Ph.D. studies in American Studies at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. Those who benefitted from his unyielding devotion are the love of his life, Connye Lilly Turner, his wife since December of 1971; his daughter, Anissa; and his granddaughter, Anjali Turner. He is also survived by his sisters, Katherine Turner and Helen Risher, as well as a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents and brothers, James Black, Charles Johnson, and Oscar Turner.
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