NATCHEZ — Howard Lindsey Turpin Jr., 83, of Natchez, died peacefully in his sleep Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009.
Memorial services are being planned by the family and will be in the near future at Trinity Episcopal Church. Howard donated his remains to the University of Mississippi Medical Research Center.
Mr. Turpin was born March 2, 1926, in Clarksdale, the son of Howard Lindsey Turpin Sr. and Elizabeth Harelson Turpin. The family moved to Vicksburg in 1932.
Mr. Turpin, known to his friends as “Turp,” graduated from Vicksburg High School in 1943. He attended Mississippi State University for one year before enlisting in the Reserve Corp of the U.S. Air Force where he served until 1946. He subsequently returned to Mississippi State where he received his undergraduate degree in accounting. Shortly thereafter, he passed the State Board of Accountancy exam for certified public accountants and pursued a long career as a CPA in Natchez, initially with various local firms and eventually his own practice.
He was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church, a member of Natchez Kiwanis Club, the Natchez Jaycees, serving one term as president and the Toastmasters Club.
He was preceded in death by his parents; two sisters, Jacqueline Turpin Snyder of Golden, Colo., and Betty Sue Tribble of Memphis, Tenn.
Survivors include his wife of 61 years, Florence Herbert Turpin; two daughters, Dodie Turpin Hall and husband, Darius, of Decatur, Ala., and Laura Lee Smith and husband, Tom, of Magnolia, Texas; one son, Howard Lindsey Turpin III of Stockton, Calif.; former daughter-in-law, Kathryn Byler Turpin of Danville, Calif.; five grandchildren, Donald W. Norman Jr. and wife, April, Roger Leo Blevins Jr. and wife, Valerie, Leslye Elizabeth Norman, Alex Lindsey Turpin and Nicholas Link Turpin; two great-grandchildren, Landon Ross Johnson and Sophia Lee Smith; one brother-in-law, George Tribble; and a number of nieces and nephews in Tennessee and Colorado.