103-year-old Danville woman ‘wouldn’t change a thing about’ her life

Turner, a resident of Brookdale Senior Living, turns 103 Monday, and said she’s just glad to be alive. She is the residence’s longest living resident.

“I’ve had a wonderful life and have been wonderfully blessed,” she said. “I had a good Christian mother and father, two husbands who were both good Christian men, good health and three good sons.”

Born in Spring Garden, she was the only child of Dr. Charles C. Grove and Hattie Adams Grove. She graduated high school from Spring Garden High School, then went on to graduate from James Madison University in 1940 with a degree in social and general science and English.

She taught school at Brosville High School and Chatham High School, then lived and taught in Arlington before returning home to marry Randolph “Ran” Turner from Chatham.

They were married for 45 years before he died in 1996. She was remarried to Ken Snider in 1999, and he died in 2007.

After becoming a mother, she stayed home to raise her sons. John lives in Roanoke, Mark in Danville and Richard in Raleigh. She also has two grandsons.

“I see them pretty often,” she said.

Turner is at the beach this week with one of those sons and said she was going to put on her bikini if it still fit.

“I’ve gained a lot of weight since coming to live here nine years ago on my birthday,” she said.

The family has a beach house in Emerald Isle her sons purchased when they sold the family’s farm. Turner enjoys vacationing there and riding around the beach and the pier in their golf cart.

Turner has lived in Danville the past 24 years, but before that lived in Spring Garden where she was an active member of Spring Garden Presbyterian Church. The organ in her room is testament to her time as a church organist for many years, mainly down in Florida. These days her poor eyesight keeps her from being able to read the notes of the music.

She purchased the organ years ago when an uncle gave all his nieces and nephews $3,000.

“I really do miss it,” she said. “I played it a number of times since I’ve been here. I remember them rolling the organ out into the hallway so I could play for everyone.”

Her eyesight also keeps her from reading many books anymore, but with a magnifying glass she is able to still read her Bible.

“My Bible is about worn out,” she said, showing off a black leather-bound Bible stuffed with notes and obituaries of friends who have passed on. Hundreds of verses are underlined on the pages. “I’m on Exodus now. It’s quite interesting. I haven’t read it for a while.”

Although she doesn’t play her favorite game of bridge anymore, she still plays Rook and bingo.

As for her days, she says she “reads some and sleeps some and walks inside and outside and then comes back and takes a nap.” Although she keeps her walker nearby, she can still walk without it.

She also likes to watch sports on TV.

“I used to live in Arlington and teach school there, so I went to a lot of professional sports games, both football and baseball,” she said. “I had three boys who liked sports, and their daddy liked baseball.”

Her favorite teams are the Washington Nationals and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Their family used to travel all over the U.S. in their Airstream, plus she has traveled all over the world.

“I’ve been to the Holy Land, which was really interesting; and to Greece; Italy, which was a beautiful place; and Germany, which was so clean,” she recalled.

Turner said she also spends a lot of time praying for everybody.

“I pray for the blind, the deaf, the crippled, preachers all over the world, for peace, the leaders all over the world and the people in Ukraine,” she said. “I pray every day, and I say the Ten Commandments and the books of the Bible every day.”

As for her birthday, she’s not sure what the plans for celebration are, but she said, “I sure do like carrot cake.”

And what she would tell her 18-year-old self?

She said, “Nothing. I wouldn’t change a thing about my life. I’ve had a wonderful, wonderful life.”