Turner Trail

Rev Cecil Turner – He was a quiet man for a preacher, but pastored a wonderful church in Mobile.  He was a great pastor and was not a pushy or in-you-face sort of guy.  He was a nice, easy man to like.  When visiting his church, Alabama Royal Rangers encouraged the development of his Ranger program.  As the development of Camp Lone Eagle was going on, you didn’t hear much from him.  Running out of money near the finishing stages of drying in the building, funds were used very, very carefully.  Promised money just did not appear.  Not appealing to anyone or asking for anything, operations ground to a halt awaiting money from the sale of the old Royal Ranger Ranch property.

The building was framed and ready for roofing, but no materials were available.  Exhausted and weary, we quit work on a Friday afternoon not knowing what to do.  Returning Monday to the site, we found the Headquarters building all roofed and dried in.  Astounding is hardly a strong enough word.

What, who, how????  After much probing we found that Bro Turner had got together a crew of men, a load of roofing tin, appeared at the site (having driven the 282 miles from Mobile), installed the roofing in one day, then left the site without a word, no note, no bill, no sign, or indication.  Royal Rangers tried to contact him and his congregation to thank them for their tremendous work.  When we finally reached him, he quietly acknowledged with no fanfare.  He just smiled.  

A quiet and lovable man who worked to give and help — and would take no credit.