Remembering "G"

Gerald Lynn Turner (10/7/84 - 11/23/06)

In November 2006, I received a life-changing phone call from a college classmate. I was home in South Carolina during Thanksgiving break of my senior year. But the classmate from Mississippi who called wasn’t calling to wish me Happy Thanksgiving. He was calling to tell me that our mutual friend, Gerald Turner, had died.

Gerald had just graduated from college in the spring. He had only just married Maci, his college sweetheart, less than three months earlier. But as they visited his in-laws in Florida for Thanksgiving, he died during an ordinary game of touch football.

Gerald, affectionally known as “G-Funk” or “G” by peers and close friends, left us suddenly. He had been aware of a heart defect, but this never stopped him from being a vibrant, energetic student, athlete, and personality.

His smile and laugh were infectious. His energy was boundless. His goals of being a serious, Word-centered youth pastor were beginning to come to fruition as he had begun serving at the Tupelo Free Will…