Eunice News columnist, former UMC pastor here dies

The Rev. William “Billy” Turner, a Eunice News columnist and former pastor of the United Methodist Church in Eunice, died Wednesday. He was 63.
Turner’s death was reported on the Coushatta United Methodist Church website.
Turner served as pastor of the Eunice for two years. He left Eunice in April 2014.
Being a minister was a second career for Turner. He worked for 35 years as sports journalist.
His newspaper career began at the Meridian Star, then on to The Clarion Ledger, and retiring from the Times Picayune in 2007, according to an obituary published in the Shreveport Times.
In 1998, he started his ministry at Gretna United Methodist Church.
Turner was a native of Meridian, Mississippi. He graduated from Northeast Lauderdale High School in Meridian in 1971. He attended Mississippi State University.
Survivors include his wife, Mary Turner; a son, Jason Turner; and daughters, Shanna Panepinto, Carrie Bust and June Mendenhall.
Memorial services were scheduled Saturday at the Coushatta United Methodist Church; and at 11 a.m. Monday at Gretna United Methodist Church, Gretna.