Betty ‘Susie’ Turner

Betty Sue Turner passed away Sept. 3, 2024, at the age of 85 in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Susie, as she was affectionately known by her immediate family, was born on the family farm northeast of Kingfisher on June 13, 1939, to A.H. (Tony) Turner and Edith (Wiedemann) Turner. She was baptized and confirmed at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Kingfisher.

Typical of family farms, Susie did her fair share of work with her brothers, Fred and Marvin, along with their mom and dad, especially at harvest.

She attended and graduated from Big Four School in 1957.

She received her teaching degree at Central State (UCO) in Edmond. Her teaching career began in Cherokee, followed by Oklahoma City and Mustang before her final 26 years in Scottsdale.

Susie moved to Phoenix in 1968 and then to Scottsdale in 1985.

Susie always loved to travel and saw many, many places around the U.S. and the world.

A few of the trips she would love to talk about were when she backpacked though Europe one summer; took her mother, Edith, to Germany and Switzerland; several cruises; and trips to Aruba, Canada, Mexico and numerous other places.

She even took a year sabbatical to live in Hawaii.

Susie would talk about going to Las Vegas many times with “the girls” to see Elvis, Neil Diamond, Dean Martin, Wayne Newton and others.

Susie would bring souvenirs to her nieces and nephews from her worldly adventures. She encouraged her nieces and nephews to travel and loved hearing stories and seeing pictures when they did.

When Susie would come back to visit during the summer and Christmas, she would joke to her nieces and nephews, “You’ll know it’s my plane when you see my leg hanging out of the window.”

She would also jump right in and help with the family business, Turner’s Blackjack BBQ.

Despite the distance and declining health in recent years that hindered her ability to see family as much as she would have liked, Susie always maintained very close contact until the very end with her family and lifelong friends, always wanting to know what was happening with everyone.

She never missed sending birthday and Christmas cards, notes of encouragement and congratulations and she always had advice on things and on life to share.

Susie thoroughly enjoyed the most recent family gathering when Marvin and his entire family went to Scottsdale in June for her 85th birthday.

Susie was preceded in death by her parents, brother Fred and his wife Mary (Bollenbach) Turner, sisterin- law Emelia (Koerner) Turner and nephew Dave Turner.

She is survived by her brother Marvin of Kingfi sher and his family Jim and Carol Beecher Turner, Jenny (Turner) Laudwig, Joann Turner, all of Kingfi sher, and Jerry Turner of Tulsa; her brother Fred’s family Tim and Riki Turner of Florida, Sherri (Turner) and Dan Friedberg of Texas and Larry Turner of Kingfisher; many greatand great-great-nieces and nephews.

She also leaves behind three aunts, Maxine, Irene and Shirley Wiedemann, numerous cousins, life-long dear friends Mary Jane (Kadavy) Svejkovsky and Irene Littlejohn and many other long-time friends.

A memorial service is pending.

The family requests memorials to be sent to Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 124 W. Douglas Ave., Kingfi sher, OK 73750.