Abner Drake Turner

Who was Abner Drake Turner?

Abner Drake Turner was a banker who served three two-year terms from 1910-1916 as the mayor of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana.

Turner graduated in 1889 from the Louisiana Industrial Institute, the forerunner of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston. He was a president of the former Bank of Webster and the Minden Building and Loan Association. He also served on the elected Webster Parish School Board. He was a Methodist and a member of the Knights of Pythias.

Turner died of a heart attack shortly after rising about 6 a.m. on Christmas morning 1953. At the time of his death, he was a member of the Webster Parish Democratic Executive Committee. He is interred at the old section of Minden Cemetery. In addition to his wife, Lillian M. Turner, he was survived by a daughter identified in his obituary as Mrs. F. Palmer, then of Shreveport and a half-brother, Elmer Turner of Minden, and two grandchildren. He is interred near two Turner infants, who died in 1916 and 1918.