Staff Interview
Name: Cooley Turner
Title: Custodian
- Where are you originally from?
I was born in Hazard, Ky - in the Appalachian Mountains. I was orphaned by the age of 15 years. I went to high school at the Foundation Academy in Berea, KY which is a school for underprivileged kids and orphans of Appalachia. - What jobs have you had before coming to CU?
I've hand-milked cows, worked as a potter, and custodial work in school.
I served in the Peace Corps VISTA back in Pikeville, KY - home of the Hatfields and the McCoys. - What brought you to Cedarville and how long have you worked here?
I worked in the paraochial schools in Springfiled, OH. After I became a Christian I wanted to work at a Christian school so I came to Cedarville. I have been here for 20 years. - What do you like most about your job?
I love the people. I especially enjoy the young people and I find it rejuvenating to be around them. I feel that I have something to contribute to their lives. - What has been the biggest change you have seen in your years here at CU?
Definitely the growth. There are so many more buildings. I find this generation of students to be more sensitive to the Lord. - What is the funniest or most interesting thing that has happened in your work?
I once led a boy, who attended the parochial school where I worked, to Christ. He was on the way to give the priest his confession, but the priest wasn't there. I told him that he could pray directly to the High Priest - which led to him praying to receive Christ as his Savior in the janitor's closet. He grew up and served the Lord, and later his wife ended up working at CU. - What is your life's passion?
At one time I would have said it was singing for the Lord - I was part of a Southern Gospel group for years. Now I have to say that art is my passion. I have taken almost every art class offered at Cedarville. I love to spend my time now at the pottery wheel. - If you could live anywhere in the world, where would that be and why?
San Diego. I lived there when I was very young, and my mother is buried at La Mesa which is very near there. It was such a beautiful place and the weather was so beautiful. - Who is the most famous person you have ever met?
I once met Abby Rockefeller. I was thumbing around the country with a friend. We had just spent the night in a cathedral courtyard in a town in Massachusetts. It was a wintry, snowy night and dipped down to zero degrees during the night. When my friend and I awoke there was a lady standing in the courtyard looking down at us. She said it was a miracle we had survived the night, and then offered to send us somewhere where we could find shelter. She gave a us travel money and an envelope to deliver to the Quaker headmaster of a school in a town nearby and said to deliver the letter and the man would let us stay there. It turned out that the lady was Abby Rockefeller and she had included a large donation to the school. We stayed there awhile and I worked on the custodial staff there. - Tell us about your family.
There is my wife Deb who I met at The Ambassador Bible Institute (now Beulah Heights Bible College) in Atlanta, GA. She worked as an artist for many years in a portrait studio. We have one daughter, Jeananne, who teaches grade school in Yellow Springs. - What is your favorite childhood memory?
My aunt was visiting us on furlough from the mission field in Mexico. She gave my brother and I each 2 nickels. One, she said, was for the Lord and the other was for an ice cream cone. One of my brother's nickels fell in the street, and went down the gutter. He thought for a second then said "Oh Lord, there goes your nickel!" But, I gave mine to the Sunday School. - Favorite Bible Passage
Psalm 1: Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor sitteth in the seat of scoffers: But his delight is in the law of Jehovah; And on his law doth he meditate day and night. - Other Favorites:
Movie - Somewhere In Time
Music (Group) - Rachmaninoff , the Bill Gaither Vocal Band, Steve Green, and my nephew Lindsey Phillips