Osceola Dorothy Turner of Sag Harbor died on April 9 at Southampton Hospital. Affectionately known as “Doll,” she was 85.
Born March 5, 1925, in Perry, Georgia, to Mattie and Henry Haslem, she moved to Southampton with her family in the mid 1940s.
A devoted Christian, she was a faithful member of the First Baptist Church of Bridgehampton since February 1946. She was known for her end-of-season celebrations for the Pierson High School basketball team, serving up her famous Southern fried chicken “with all the fixin’s.”
Family members said she had a spirt of giving and was always there whenever someone asked. In her early days, she acted as her own one-woman ministry, catering to the needs of the young people and older women in her community, family recalled, and she was truly grateful to God for her loving relationships with her extended family and friends.
She is survived by five daughters, Shirley Turner of Sag Harbor, Colleen Turner-Phillips and her husband Ronald Phillips of Massapequa, Rose Turner of Albany, Judy Turner of Virginia and Jessie DeBoard of Maryland; two sons, Bennie Turner of Riverhead and Wilton Thomas Turner Jr. of Virginia; three sisters, Fanny Johnson, Sara Cone and Ruth Miller, all of Georgia; and a brother, George Haslem of Wisconsin. She is also survived by 16 grandchildren; 26 great-grandchildren; and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews and lifelong friends.
In addition to her husband, Wilton Thomas Turner Sr., she was predeceased by three brothers, Willie Haslem, Henry Haslem and Albert Robinson, and two sisters, Sylvia Bonds and Euralee Blackmond.
Visitation will be held on Friday, April 16, from 9 to 11 a.m., at the First Baptist Church in Bridgehampton, where a funeral service officiated by Reverend Frank Bryant will commence at 11 a.m. Interment will follow at Calverton National Cemetery.
on Apr 16, 2010