Thomas R. Turner, May 23, 1942 – November 13, 2014
Today we are flying to Seattle to be with my brother’s daughters, Vanessa and Lisa and their families and friends to celebrate his life in words that communicate thoughts and feelings manifested in knowledge, experience and love.
My brother often shared and laughed about the closeness to home the following Woody Allen quote was for us:
“It reminds me of that old joke – you know, a guy walks into a psychiatrist’s office and says, hey doc, my brother’s crazy! He thinks he’s a chicken.
Then the doc says, why don’t you turn him in?
Then the guy says, I would but I need the eggs.
I guess that’s how I feel about relationships. They’re totally crazy, irrational, and absurd, but we keep going through it because we need the eggs.”
Saturday’s celebration of Tom’s (aka, Bobby) life will include a “sharing” program, because we need the eggs!
You may call me Tommy, you may call me Jimmy
You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy
You may call me T.R, you may call me Ray
You may call me anything but no matter what you say.
You’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed You’re gonna have to serve somebody, Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.
— minor changes to Bob Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody”
Click to see a pdf file of “In Loving Celebration of Thomas R. Turner.” Tom’s Celebration
Dedicated to Brother Tom (RIP) and Daughters, Vanessa and Lisa — Images by kenne
Marcy Now
My father could use a little mercy now The fruits of his labor Fall and rot slowly on the ground His work is almost over It won’t be long and he won’t be around I love my father, and he could use some mercy now
My brother could use a little mercy now He’s a stranger to freedom He’s shackled to his fears and doubts The pain that he lives in is Almost more than living will allow I love my bother, and he could use some mercy now
My church and my country could use a little mercy now As they sink into a poisoned pit That’s going to take forever to climb out They carry the weight of the faithful Who follow them down I love my church and country, and they could use some mercy now
Every living thing could use a little mercy now Only the hand of grace can end the race Towards another mushroom cloud People in power, well They’ll do anything to keep their crown I love life, and life itself could use some mercy now
Yeah, we all could use a little mercy now I know we don’t deserve it But we need it anyhow We hang in the balance Dangle ‘tween hell and hallowed ground Every single one of us could use some mercy now Every single one of us could use some mercy now Every single one of us could use some mercy now
Mother (Agnes), with sons Kenne and Tom (Bobby), and Tom’s daughters Lisa and Vanessa
— Late 80’s image in Seattle by Joy
Susan Sontag — Regarding the Pain of Others
Photography obsessed Sontag and became the subject for two of her best books. Her preoccupation with photography is the single clearest example of her shifting a previously disregarded mass medium into the realm of acceptable highbrow discussion. The photograph, in her view, had changed the mechanics of memory. Our minds, she argued, no longer stored narrative; they stockpiled images. “The problem,” she wrote in Regarding the Pain of Others, “is not that people remember through photographs, but that they remember only photographs.” And in a way, that sentence anticipated her obituaries, which dwelled at length on the many photographs of Sontag.
— from a profile on Susan Sontag, Susan Superstar in the New York Magazine
Thomas R. Turner, May 23, 1942 – November 13, 2014
Dedicated to Brother Tom (RIP) and Daughters, Vanessa and Lisa — Images by kenne
Mother (Agnes), with sons Kenne and Tom (Bobby), and Tom’s daughters Lisa and Vanessa
Becoming is Superior to Being 