Norris G Turner

Norris Turner, 83, passed away November 14, 2020 in Leakesville at the home in which he was born. He was born along with his twin brother, Norvin, on February 23, 1937 to Rufus Melvin Turner and Beatrice Ball Turner. 

He graduated from Leakesville High School in 1955 and attended Jones County Junior College.  After attending one year at JCJC, he served in the U.S. Air Force as a topographic surveyor and was stationed in Taiwan before receiving an honorable discharge in 1960. Thereafter, he began studying Electrical Engineering at Mississippi State University. During the summer of 1962, he took a job with GeoTech Engineering to work on testing seismometers in Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the course of that precarious time, the Castro Regime shut off the water to the U.S. installations, but he made it through and went back to MSU to continue his engineering studies.

He graduated from Mississippi State University in 1966 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He then worked for E-Systems in Dallas, Texas. His first project was the matrix testing for the Lance Missile System which was used by the U.S. Army in western Europe, NATO, and Israel. He then went on to become lead senior engineer to invent the barcode scanning machine for the U.S. Postal Service as well as their pocket sorting system. From there, he went on to design a microfiche sorter for the U.S. Air Force. Additionally, Turner collaborated with Notre Dame University to design a state-of-the-art method of removing ice from the rail system used for the Rapid Transit Authority. He also redesigned a multiline OCR sorter for the Smithsonian Institute, and created many different types of OCR sorters, flat sorters, and microprocessors for personal/business computers. After 26 years, he retired in 1993, but continued to invent several useful devices until his illness.

He is preceded in death by his father, Rufus Melvin Turner; mother, Beatrice Ball Turner; brother, Melvin Howell “Pud” Turner; twin brother, Norvin R. Turner; nephew, Jason B. Turner; brother-in-law, Paul Stanford; and sister-in-law, Jean Zorn Turner.

He is survived by his daughter, Rhonda Lynn Turner; sister, Alpha Turner Stanford; nephews, Duane Stanford, David (Sheri) Stanford, Kevin (Kristy) Turner; niece, Janet (Scott) Dockery; niece-in-law, Danielle Blaylock Turner; great nephews, Dr. Casey (Hannah) Stanford, Dillon Turner, Stone Turner, Sam Turner; and great nieces, Carrie Lynn Stanford, Lindsey Turner, Lana Turner, Megan Dockery, Shelby Dockery.

The family will hold a private graveside service for Norris Turner.

Moments Funeral Home Leakesville, formerly Freeman Funeral Home, locally owned and operated, is honored to be in charge of arrangements. 

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