Claude Jennings Turner II

The Rev. Claude J. Turner Jr. went to his last home to be with his Lord on Tuesday, May 17, 2011. He is survived by his wife of 33 years, Diann Adele Turner, and 6 children: Daughter Claudette Glaspie and her husband Steve, Claude J. Turner III and his wife Annette, stepsons Charles Haynes, Donald Haynes, Jack Haynes, stepdaughter Patricia Davis and their spouses, 15 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his parents, eldest son Peter, his first wife Gladys and second wife Ethelye, and his sister Vernelle. He also leaves behind him an extended family and many friends, who will miss him greatly.

His 90 years were well-spent and productive, including 21 years in the U.S. Navy, serving in WWII and Korea, as a sheriff’s deputy in San Mateo County, California, and a Deacon in the Episcopal Church, serving Good Samaritan and St. Aidan’s Episcopal Churches in Virginia Beach. In addition, he was for many years a volunteer at Sentara Leigh Hospital. Finally, the employees, volunteers and seafarers he worked with and served as Port Chaplain at the International Seamen’s House in Norfolk will greatly miss him, all of whom he considered his family and deeply loved.

Claude had many highlights in his life; raising a loving family, serving his God, his country and his church. He was born in Lynchburg, VA in 1921. After his father’s death when Claude was 10, his mother moved with her son Claude and her daughter Vernelle back into her parents home in Lynchburg, and Claude was raised with several aunts, uncles and cousins, with whom he remained very close all his life. He was proud of his family, which arrived in America in 1619. He also loved his country and was proud that members of his family had fought in every war in the U.S. from before the American Revolution to the present day, including his son SSGT. Claude Turner III who recently returned from serving in Afghanistan.

After joining the Navy in 1938, he was stationed aboard various ships in the Pacific during WWII and Korea. He was only 17 when he joined up, and often said he had steered a ship through the Panama Canal before he learned to drive a car. In 1954 he was stationed aboard the ship that was used in the movie “Mister Roberts” and the crew were extras in the movie. All his life he told stories about that experience: Being taught to tap dance by James Cagney, how Henry Fonda always knew his lines and Jack Lemmon seldom did, how William Powell left a bottle of whiskey on each sailor’s rack after the filming was over.

Upon retiring from the Navy, he returned to his wife and children in California. After working various jobs to support his family, he was hired as a Sheriff’s Deputy in San Mateo County, a job that he loved. During this time he became active in the Episcopal Church and eventually entered the seminary. While attending the seminary, he volunteered at the San Francisco branch of the International Seamen’s House, and found what he considered his true calling, serving the international seafaring community.

In 1979, Claude and his wife Diann moved back to Virginia and settled in Virginia Beach, where they lived for the rest of his life. He was ordained in 1984 and continued a life of service to God, his family, friends and seafarers from all over the world, until his health began to fail and he retired in 2008.

Claude’s life was one of love and service. He was deeply loved and will be missed by all who knew him. He would be honored if you would forego sending flowers and instead make a donation to the International Seamen’s Friends Society in Norfolk or to the charity of your choice. It was his wish to be cremated and his ashes interred in the columbarium at St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church in Virginia Beach. No funeral service is planned, but a memorial celebration of his life will be held at St. Aidan’s at a later date. His family would like to thank the doctors, nurses and corpsmen of 4H and 4J at the Naval Hospital Portsmouth for their dedicated, kind and loving care of Claude in his last weeks of life.