Barbara Chambers Newsome Turner

Barbara Chambers Newsome Turner, passed away peacefully Saturday, June 9, 2018, at the age of 102. She was born August 26, 1915, in Toombsboro, Georgia, and was one of four children born to Frank Chambers and Lamar Albea Chambers. She graduated from Toombsboro High School in 1931 and attended Georgia State College for Women where she earned a BS degree in Elementary Education.

Barbara taught 3 ^rd grade in Walker County, Georgia for three years before returning to Sandersville where she met and married Dr. Emory G. “Pete” Newsome.  They had two children, Barbara Ann and Glenn.  Actively involved in her children’s education, Barbara served as class mother and held many PTA positions. She was a homemaker and doctor’s wife for more than 30 years.  When Dr. Pete died unexpectedly following surgery she moved to Atlanta and was active in several service organizations and served as a docent at Georgia’s Governor’s Mansion.

The Central Georgia Railroad track was directly in front of Barbara’s house in Toomsboro, which contributed to a life-long love of trains and travel. A highlight of her early adult years was a trip by train to California during World War II to visit her sister, Kathleen, and taking her first commercial airplane flight from Miami to Havana, Cuba in 1956. In her later years she traveled to England, France, Mexico, Nassau and the Caribbean.  She loved the water, and especially loved the lake house named “Pleasure Point” that she and Dr. Pete built on Lake Sinclair.

In her later years, she met and married Gordon Cromwell Turner in Augusta, Georgia, and they were happily married for 10 years before his death in 1991. She showed extraordinary courage throughout her life, but especially so in her later years when she became a resident of the Washington County Extended Care Facility.  She remained hopeful, optimistic and quick to make anyone who visited her laugh.  She loved to read and loved having a “good time” with friends.  She had a wonderful sense of humor that she readily shared with others.

She was preceded in death by her first husband, Dr. “Pete” Newsome, second husband, Gordon C. Turner, and daughter, Barbara Ann Newsome Nealy. She is survived by her son, Glenn Newsome, seven grandchildren:  Deas Nealy, Barton Nealy, Brannen Nealy, Jonathan Newsome, Lauren Newsome Bush, Benjamin Newsome, and Patrick Newsome, nine great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. A memorial service for Barbara C. Newsome Turner will be held at a later date. Contributions in her memory can be made to the charitable organization of the giver’s choosing.

The family thanks the staff of Washington County Extended Care Facility for their loving care of Barbara for more than 10 years.