A woman of many talents, Nilah Blackwell Rodgers Turner was born to be a writer. She died Monday, March 17, 2025, four days short of her 92 nd birthday.
Her life will be celebrated at a memorial service to be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 23, at First Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Lubbock, TX, 7702 Indiana Ave.
As a school age child, Nilah’s favorite time was going to the Littlefield, TX, library. She became an avid reader of books of all genres and attributed her love of words and the way they made her feel as the beginning of her dream to become a writer.
Her love of reading never stopped, but her interest in writing was delayed after her graduation from Littlefield High School in 1950, the year the Wildcats won the Texas State football championship.
She married Rafe Rodgers that year and they settled in Whitharral, halfway between Littlefield and Levelland, where he farmed and she became a farm wife. In addition to raising three sons, Nilah learned everything else a farm wife knows, how to drive pickups, pull cotton trailers to the gin and feed a hungry family.
When her boys became school age, she began working part-time at the Levelland daily newspaper, her first job as a writer. She caught on quickly, learning on the job how to write news stories, obituaries, weddings and do other tasks as well. She asked if she could also interview local people and write feature stories about their lives. Her editor responded, “when and if you get time.”
Nilah made time, and the editor in Littlefield noticed her work. She later applied for a job there and Bill Turner quickly hired her. He told her that his newspaper wanted her interviews and photos for every feature article she could write.
“It was exactly what I wanted to do,” she would tell him. “Her stories became a staple twice weekly in our newspaper,” Turner said. “She could turn them out fast enough to stay ahead of our deadlines.”
She worked at the Leader-News several years, and the paper won numerous state and regional awards for her feature writing. She also wrote the lead story for an extra edition the paper won first place in “Best News Story” in the National Newspaper Association’s contests for semi-weeklies in 1970. The Leader-News was sold in 1972 to James Roberts, and Jerry Tidwell later became the new editor-publisher. Nilah continued to write for the newspaper, but she later found she could make a better living writing for magazines.
She began to freelance, writing mostly for Readers Digest, Redbook, and Good Housekeeping. One year she tied the record at Readers Digest, 10 Dramas in Real Life by a single author in one year.
When the magazine market seemed to falter later in the 70’s, Nilah sought a new career, real estate. She studied, took tests and qualified, and also got her broker’s license. Her one-woman real estate agency did well, too.
In 1982, Nilah Rodgers and Bill Turner renewed their acquaintance. Turner had lost his wife Amy to systemic lupus in 1981. Nilah visited relatives in Diana, TX, the next summer and, while there, called Bill to express sympathy for his loss. They agreed to meet for lunch and enjoyed their brief visit.
The two had not spoken in the 10 years since he had left Littlefield to buy a weekly paper in Atlanta, TX, but their meeting renewed their friendship. He also learned that Nilah had begun a divorce process.
After a few weeks, Turner decided to call Nilah back. He was not happy living alone in a large home, his children all having completed college and begun their separate lives. She agreed to meet him for a weekend in Dallas and they began a short courtship. They were married in Lubbock Oct. 16, 1982.
The two families blended and through the years, Nilah’s grandchildren visited almost every summer while they were young.
In later years, Nilah continued her real estate work and also wrote some feature stories for his Atlanta Citizens Journal, which also became a semi- weekly newspaper. After Turner sold that paper in 1986, the couple continued to live in Atlanta until 1993, when they moved to Longview. After living their first 24 years in East Texas, the Turners moved to Lubbock in 2006, to reside there the next 18-plus years, so she could be nearer her family.
She spent many of the final years of her life writing two novels, “Home to Hidden Springs” by Nilah Rodgers Turner, published in 2018, and “Tending the Enemy,” published that same year. Both are available on Amazon.com.
While living in Lubbock, she also found time to study and learn to be a Master Gardener, her favorite pastime. She also served as an elder and member of the finance committee at her church, First Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Lubbock.
Nilah was the eldest daughter of James Carroll and Lucy Camp Blackwell of Littlefield, born on March 21, 1933, at Littlefield Hospital.
Nilah is survived by her husband, Bill; two sisters, Bonnie Smith of Rogers, AR, and Donna Avant of Hot Springs, AR; two sons, Monty Rodgers and wife, Cheri, and Brody Rodgers; nine grandchildren, Brenda Rodgers Pagel and husband Mike, Monty Rodgers Jr. and wife Stephany, Brandon Rodgers and wife Kellie, Shelia Rodgers Jimenez and husband Roger, and Shayla Rodgers Jones and husband Gary; Bill’s children, Kathy Turner Pribble, Ken Turner and wife Suzy and their children, Maggie and Wil; and D’Andrea Turner Parker and husband Billy and their children, Amanda and Andrew;15 great grandchildren; and 4 great-great grandchildren.
Nilah was preceded in death by her parents, a brother John, a sister Carolyn; her first husband Rafe and wife Denise; and her eldest son, Terry Rodgers.
A heartfelt thanks to all her caregivers during the past four years: Home Instead for almost 1.5 years; Mackenzie Place for a half year in assisted living, Wilshire Place Memory Care and Hospice of the South Plains for the past two plus years as she battled the latter stages of her life: www.nilahrodgersturner.weebly.com.