HSU Insider

English Instructor Leaves Lasting Impressions With Students

• By Janlyn Echols Thaxton
• Posted March 17, 2009 6:36 PM
• 1 Comment

It was 1929 when Ellen Turner graduated from Hardin-Simmons University at the age of 17. "She was so young she couldn't find a teaching job that year," says Hardin-Simmons registrar and long-time friend, Dorothy Kiser. Kiser is the person behind an anniversary reception this Friday honoring Turner's graduation 80 years ago.

Turner did eventually get that teaching job...and teach she did...some 52 years worth, to be exact.

In fact, Turner taught students of all ages during her half-century career. When she finally landed that first job, it was in a new school district just north of Quanah, Texas, teaching elementary students. In 1953, Turner took a job in the English Department at Abilene High School and served as chairman of the department her last six years there. She closed her teaching career in 1982 in the Language Arts department at Hardin-Simmons University, sharing her love of teaching with college-aged students.

One of her former HSU students is now an Adjunct Instructor at Hardin-Simmons. Brad Layton teaches Spanish and English in the Department of Literature and Languages. He remembers Ellen Turner as his English Composition instructor when he was a freshman in 1971. Layton says Turner was a very meaningful person to both him and his wife. Dr. Carol Ann Layton, an HSU Professor of Educational Studies, remembers Turner by saying, "She was the epitome of a Christ-like teacher."

In 2000, Mrs. Turner was honored as HSU's Former Faculty Member of the Year by the Faculty-Staff Administration Fellowship. A biography written for that occasion notes, "Ellen's many honors include being runner-up for Texas Teacher of the Year, recognition among the Outstanding Educators of Texas, Who's Who of American Women, and 2000 Notable Americans."

Turner also coached a winning girls' volleyball team, was principal of an intermediate school, taught Spanish, played the piano, and wrote meditative verse. Turner often tells about the time a tornado once destroyed one of her schools causing classes to be held in empty houses.

But Turner's true tribute is how former students remember her, even decades later. "She was a mentor and dear friend to us as students," says Brad Layton. "Several years later, when we were serving in Ecuador as missionaries, she sent a little New Testament to us when our first baby was born, engraved with our daughter, Erica's, name." Layton adds, "We were so touched by her thoughtful gesture and Christian character, that we were influenced to name our second daughter Ellen, partly in honor of Mrs. Turner."

Turner, now 96, will be celebrated for her life-long service as a teacher on the 80th anniversary of her graduation from Hardin-Simmons.

The reception will be held in the Connally Missions Center Friday, March 20, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Dorothy Kiser says this will be a great opportunity for her former students, both at Abilene High School and HSU, to come by and visit with Turner.