Week 10 - A Strong Woman & spotlight #2 Dora (Strong) Turner Greer

Dora Strong & Clebert Turner
Wedding Day
1925

The theme for week 10 of 52 ancestors in 52 weeks was a “Strong Woman.”  My great grandmother and spotlight #2 was just that, a strong woman! Dora Strong that is! My great grandma saw a lot of sadness in her life that might make some women bitter or depressed. By all accounts though she was a loving woman who was a caregiver to both her family and the community.

Dora Strong was born Dec 5. 1905 to Susie (Reber) Strong & Henry H Strong Jr. She was their 3rd child and oldest daughter. Their children were:

• Leland Oliver 1902
• Emit 1903
• Dora (my great grandmother) 1905
• Gertie 1908
• David 1911
• Velma 1912
• Hubert 1915
• Naomi 1917
• Henry Harold “Pete” 1920
• Margaret 1922

When she was around 6 yrs old her older brother Leland Oliver would pass away when he was around 10 yrs old from dysentery. Two years later her other older brother Emet would pass away when he was approximately 10 yrs old. His death certificate number indicates he died from a disease of the bones and says a contributing factor was poor health. I would think that losing 2 siblings by the time you were around 8 yrs old would be tough on any child. 

On Aug 16 of 1925 she would marry Clebert Turner in Sarcoxie Missouri. They would make their home near the Ritchey vicinity. In Oct 1926 they became parents of a baby boy named Clebert Eldon. Unfortunately he passed four days later. In 1928 their first daughter arrived Geraldean (Geri), followed the next year in 1929 with my grandfather Henry Eugene, and 1933 with son Gilbert Lee. In 1935 Gilbert, who was a month from being 2, came down with pneumonia and pass away within a week. My grandfather who was between 5-6 at the time of his brother’s death told me he could remember them laying his brother out in the parlor after his passing, before his burial and that after everyone went to sleep he would sneak back in and give his baby brother a final kiss goodby. To hear that from my grown grandfather about brought me to tears. In April 1937 Clebert and Dora would welcome their youngest daughter Barbara Jo. Sometime at the end of 1937 Clebert came down with Tuberculosis. In a Jan 27, 1938 bit in the Neosho MO paper it says they were getting rid of all their personal belongings and moving to Arizona in hopes that Clebert’s health would improve. Unfortunately, by the beginning of May they were back in Missouri with Dora and Clebert coming by rail and Clebert’s brother Carl bringing back the kids by automobile. Clebert would pass on May 16, 1938 at the age of 33 leaving my great grandmother a widow with 3 young children. She had already lost 2 children and now her husband. 

Dora & Roy Greer Wedding Pic

Dora, or Grandma Greer as I always knew her as, was blessed to live a long life. She would go on to marry a widower by the name of Roy Greer who lived across the road several years later and they enjoyed a long married life.  I’ve heard from several family members that she was a wonderful caregiver. I know that her parents were both living with her when they passed and just recently heard that she delivered her twin nephews when their dad went to get the dr but didn’t make it back because of snow. When you hear people describe her you will hear the adjectives kind, sweet, and strong in her faith. I would add patient as my grandpa was probably one of the most ornery people I know, and it sounds like he was pretty much that way his whole life. I was lucky to have her in my life for 23 yrs and wish I had taken the time to get to know her better. I’ve appreciated the family though that’s been kind enough to share all the family history.

Dora Strong (1905-1998) m. Clebert Turner (1904-1938)

Henry Eugene “Gene” Turner (1929-2011) m Melva Smith (1929-2011)

Donna Turner (1951- ) m Larry Immekus (1949-2015)
Me

Grandma Greer & I on my wedding day
Jan 24, 1992