Retired University of Tennessee professor Thomas Noel Turner, 83, of Knoxville passed away at home on December 21, 2023.
Family will receive friends at Berry’s Funeral Home, 3704 Chapman Highway, Knoxville, on Saturday, December 30, from noon-1 p.m. with a service at 1. The funeral service will also be streamed on Facebook live https://www.facebook.com/BerryFuneralHome/.
Dr. Turner grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was a graduate of the University of Cincinnati where he earned his bachelor’s in elementary education in 1963. He went on to attend Penn State University, where he earned his master’s and doctorate in elementary education in 1971. Tom worked at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville from 1970 to 2015, where he taught classes on educational methods, storytelling and drama. He directed more than 50 doctoral dissertations. He also directed the Lyndhurst Program, an alternative teacher education program for nontraditional students from 1987 to 2002.
Tom studied at the conservatory of music in Cincinnati. He served as the music and choir director of Bookwalter United Methodist Church in Knoxville from 1988 until 1996. He was an avid reader and owned more than 30,000 books. The full obituary is here.