Obituary of Maurice Oral Turner

Maurice Oral Turner was born to William Oral and Mary Louise Turner on October 20th, 1931 in Chicago, Illinois. Maurice was peacefully called home to the Lord on October 12,2018. Preceded in death by his parents, his wife Marj, sisters: Gladys Thompson, Dorothy Board, Theresa Mason and his daughter, Markeega B. Turner. Maurice left home at 17 to pursue his musical career as a bass player. He played with John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, BB King, Sarah Vaughn, and more. In the Twin Cities, he played with the Buddy Davis Trio, Cornbread Harris, Augie Garcia, Bobby Lyle and whoever came to town that needed a Bass Player. He also played internationally. He had several albums. He was a member of the MN Musicians Union for over 60 years. When he wasn’t playing music, he worked as a cab driver for Yellow Taxi in Minneapolis, then he worked for Southwest Taxi. Later he founded St, Paul Taxi Corp,. the first black owned taxi company. He went on to drive as an owner-operator for Town Taxi, Airport Taxi, and ended his taxi 

career at Suburban/Green & White Taxi. Maurice was also an artist, and patented inventor of Text Scan, a device that moved down the page to keep track when typing documents. Lately, he enjoyed working with Impark as a parking attendant for over 8 years, and loved the people he worked with. He is survived by his sister, Gwendolyn Boyer, children, Maurice Jr., (Cheryl), Antoinette, Develle, Martinez, (Sheryl) Damian (Holly), William (Karwyn) Commodore Jr., Kimberly (Floyd) Barr, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews. He was a loving man of faith who believed in the power of prayer. He touched many lives and will be truly missed.Celebration of Life Service:

Progressive Baptist Church                         Saturday - November 3, 2018 at 2 pm

1505 Burns Ave, St Paul, MN 55106          Coffee & Cake will be served after service

Phone: (651) 774-5503                                5 pm Dinner with the family at Golden Corral in Maplewood