A Life of Service
Serving the local community has always been a way of life for Nedra Turney.
Service to community has long been a part of Nedra Harris Turney’s life. She was executive director of the Texarkana Chapter of the American Red Cross for 22 years and has served on the Miller County Conservation Board for 35 years. "I've loved my conservation board. I came on the board in 1986. I'm going on 35 years on the board and I've been Board Chair the biggest part of the time," she said Turney was born in 1940 in Ashdown, Arkansas. while her parents were liv-ing with her maternal grandparents. After her birth, the family moved back to the Harris family firm outside Texarkana. Arkansas. 'My dad's family had this land: Turney said. Her parents, Oscar and Katherine Harris, were a huge influence on her and their corner of Miller County has always been home. In 2008, Nedra and her husband Jerry Mamey built a house on part of the family property. Her father worked downtown and Turney remembers visiting him at work as a child. "I have a lot of good, good memories of riding in the back of the truck to go downtown," she said. Some of her first memories are of the hardships of World War IL "Being born in 1940, of course I remember the ration books," she said. She remembers family members swapping rationing stamps for ciga-rettes or other luxuries. Nedra Harris met Jerry "Ramey at North Heights Junior High and they soon started dating. Nedra was a good student and active in 4-H. Her 4-H leader, John W. Measel, was a mentor and taught her a lot about leadership. Nedra and Jerry graduated from Arkansas High School together in 1958 and married in 1959. At that time, State National Bank (now Regions Bank) hired one Arkansas High graduate a year to work at the bank after graduation. I was chosen to be the student that year. It was a really big honor: Turney said She and Jerry both eventually worked in banking. Nedra also later worked for the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts. While working there, she and some others lobbied for employees to be consid-ered state employees so they could have state benefits, retirement and insurance.
“That was the most awesome thing, to be able to do that,” she said.
Nedra and Jerry Turney raised a son and two daughters and now have
several grandchildren. In 2019, they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.
In 1984, Turney went to work as executive director of the Texarkana Chapter of the American Red Cross.
“I had a friend who had worked with the Red Cross and I always had such respect for her and the work they did,” Turney said.
There was never a typical day at work with the Red Cross.
The Texarkana chapter provides services to eight counties. The chapter is the primary agency for disaster preparedness and response, providing disaster training courses for volunteer and paid staff and responding to disasters, whether it be a house fire or an ice storm such as the one on Christmas 2000.
After the ice storm, as soon as they could get on the road, her husband drove her to the Red Cross office on Spruce Street and she stayed there for days, answering the phone and coordinating volunteers. Only one phone in the building worked and it was in Turney’s office.
Over the years, the work with the Red Cross could be physically and