Morris W Turner

Morris Wayne Turner (October 8, 1931 – June 1, 2008), also known as Moe Turner, was a businessman who served in the nonpartisan position of mayor of Lubbock, Texas, from 1972 to 1974. He was also a member of the Lubbock City Council from 1968 until the time of his election as mayor.

Turner was one of four children born to Clay Turner (1906–1980) and Addie L. Turner (1906–2000). Though Turner was born near Coalgate, the seat of Coal County in southern Oklahoma, the family thereafter moved to Lubbock. Turner graduated in 1950 from Lubbock High School, where he played football, basketball, and baseball. In the fall of 1950, he entered Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) on a football scholarship, having been the quarterback and punter until sidelined by a knee injury. He joined the Reserve Officers Training Corps and was a national officer of the Arnold Air Society. At Texas Tech, he lettered in baseball as a catcher for the Red Raiders. Upon graduation from Texas Tech with a degree in business administration, Turner was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force and served at Ellington Field in Houston. He was assigned to the combat-ready 40th Bomber Group, 40th Bomber Squadron, Strategic Air Command under general Curtis LeMay. During the Cold War, Turner was a bombardier/navigator aboard a nuclear-armed B-47 jet bomber.

On December 23, 1950, in a ceremony at the Southside Church of Christ, Turner married the former MaryLou Seward, his former Lubbock High School classmate. They couple made their home in Lubbock and had three children: Brenda Sue Paine (deceased), Andrew Ollen Turner (born ca. 1954) of Lubbock, and Stephanie Gayle Procopio (born ca. 1957) of Phoenix, Arizona. For more than 30 years, Turner was an active member of Sunset Church of Christ, which sponsors the Sunset International Bible Institute in Lubbock.

In 1961, Turner formed the M. W. Turner Construction Company, with specialty in commercial construction and development. His company did some of the later renovations on the Texas Tech campus. In 1968, at the age of thirty-six, he was elected to the first of two two-year terms to the Lubbock City Council. During his first term, the Lubbock Tornado destroyed much of the downtown. He was hence part of the council, along with Mayor Jim Granberry, charged with the rebuilding of Lubbock after the widespread destruction caused by the storm. In 1972, he was elected mayor when Granberry, a dentist, chose not to seek a second term. Turner is considered the father of the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center. He worked to insure the success of the since-named Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport, the Canyon Lakes project, and the George and Helen Mahon Public Library, named for former U.S. Representative George Mahon of Lubbock. He also worked to widen Indiana Avenue and improve sanitation services. He was president of the South Plains Association of Governments and was a member of the Lubbock Board of City Development. Turner was a golfer, a singer, and a longtime advocate of his alma mater Texas Tech.

Turner died in Lubbock of a long struggle against diabetes. He was survived by his wife, son Andrew, daughter Stephanie, six granddaughters, one grandson, four great-grandchildren, two sisters, and seventeen nieces and nephews. Memorial services were held on June 5 at the Sunset Church of Christ.