Shirley Turner Purvis

Shirley Turner Purvis, age 88, of Paducah, Kentucky, passed away Sunday, April 26, 2026, at Baptist Health Paducah.

Shirley was of the Methodist faith and a 1956 graduate of Lone Oak High School. Shirley was a graduate of Murray State University, where she received her Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s Degree, and 30 hours above the Master's. She enjoyed going to the many annual 1956 class reunions that were held each year. Shirley retired from the McCracken Board of Education, where she taught elementary students. She enjoyed traveling with her friends on many river cruises.

Survivors include one son, Steve Purvis, and wife, Kim, of Destin, Florida;  one nephew, Boyce Bowerman of Paducah; special friend, Joe W. Littleton; caregiver, Brenda Littleton, and husband, Joe D. Littleton.

Preceding her in death in 2003 were her husband, Emmett James Purvis, parents, Ermine Turner and Offie Curtis Turner; one sister, Martha Bowerman, and one brother, James Turner.

Services will be held at the Lone Oak Chapel of Milner & Orr Funeral Home,  Thursday, April 30, 2026, at 1:00 p.m., with classmate Retta Folsom officiating. Burial will follow at Woodlawn Memorial Gardens.  Visitation will be held on Thursday, April 30, 2026, from 11:00 a.m. until service time at the Lone Oak Chapel of Milner & Orr Funeral Home.

Expression of sympathy may be made to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105

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