By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Mr. Turner

Darwin Keith Turner was a gifted artisan and amateur musician whose hobby was collecting friends.

"His greatest gift, his strongest trait - the quality that made him who he was - was his love for people," said his sister, Pamela Turner Welch of Price Hill. He traveled through life "gathering friends at every step and keeping his solid friendships close to him."

Mr. Turner was the great-grandson of renowned entomologist Charles Henry Turner. His father was Darwin T. Turner, a writer, editor and critic who was the youngest graduate of the University of Cincinnati. The university named its minority scholars program and a residence hall for him.

The younger Mr. Turner, a Cincinnati native who had lived in Atlanta for the past 13 years, died Sunday of lung and spine cancer at his mother's home in North Avondale. He was 49.

As a boy growing up in North Avondale, he sang, studied piano and played guitar and trumpet. "He also had a small band when he was very young," said his mother, Edna Louise Bonner Turner. "He used to play in our basement all the time." Mr. Turner could learn a new piano composition in no time. "No matter how complicated it was, he could play it in the hour," his mother said.

He played at his alma mater, Woodward High School, and for friends and family - as well as for personal fulfillment - as an adult.

His interest in people led him to pursue a degree in sociology from UC. In Atlanta he worked with children at a YMCA. "He was such a people person," his mother said. "He was a free spirit."

Mr. Turner chose to make his living working with his hands. He ran a home-remodeling and decorating firm - Turner Enterprises Inc. - in Atlanta, which featured wall coverings and tile work he designed.

"It is not an exaggeration to say that he could do almost anything with his hands," his sister said. He derived joy in helping people remodel and decorate their homes.

Mr. Turner traveled home to Cincinnati in October last year to attend the dedication of the Darwin T. Turner Hall at UC. "He got sick when they dedicated that building, but he didn't think it was cancer," his mother said. "He was diagnosed in January."

In March he underwent lung and spine surgery, which left him paralyzed. His mother brought him home directly from the hospital and cared for him until his death.

In addition to his mother and sister, he is survived by a nephew, aunts, uncles and cousins.

Visitation is 11 a.m.-noon today followed by the funeral service at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, 1809 Rutland Ave. in Evanston. Entombment will be at Spring Grove Cemetery.

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com