This year’s dedicatee is honored for his faithful, Christ-like service over decades of teaching. Using his outstanding skills as a consummate professional, he has truly touched countless lives through music. Born to a minister, Dr. Dan Turner heard the Gospel from an early age. He left home in 1968 to come to BJU where he earned an undergraduate degree in Music Education in 1972. He went on to complete a Master's in Music Education from the University of Illinois in 1979 and received a doctorate in Music Education from the University of Illinois eight years later.
Professionally, Dr. Turner spent 11 years as director of bands at Bob Jones Academy. He then joined the university faculty where he has taught for 36 years. As well as being a professor, Dr. Turner has performed with the Foundation Brass, taught private lessons, and directed the Greenville Concert Band. For his superior conducting, Dr. Turner has been the recipient of various awards including being named to Who’s Who of the South and Who’s Who of Education and has received the National Band Association Citation of Excellence. In 2017, Furman band director Les Hicken nominated Dr. Turner for inclusion in the prestigious American Bandmasters Association, the premiere professional band organization in the world. This association, which consists of approximately 300 band directors and composers in the U.S. and Canada, grants membership by invitation only.
As well as being a performer, a conductor, and an educator, Dr. Turner has been a prolific recorder of BJU history, writing such works as Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University and Reflecting God’s Light: Facets of a Miracle. In fact, he is regarded as having authored the definitive book on Bob Jones University.
To better serve students, Dr. Turner founded the Gingery-Mack Scholarship Fund that has enabled promising musicians to study under accomplished, Christian faculty. So far the fund has raised and distributed over $50,000 to worthy young musicians.
He is married to Christy Award winning author Jamie Langston Turner. They have a son, Dr. Jess Turner, and two grandchildren.
Friends of Dr. Turner describe him in numerous ways including “witty,” “passionate,” “focused,” “dedicated” and “sincere.” One friend and colleague, Dr. Warren Cook, describes him as a man of boundless energy with contagious enthusiasm.
Another close friend and his former division chair, Dr. Ed Dunbar, notes that "Dr. Turner is as concerned about audience members enjoying his music as he is about the person who might be judging him for a prestigious award. Also, he wants to see his students succeed, not ultimately for the Division of Music but for the glory of God."
For his unswerving devotion to serving God through the Division of Music; for his powerful, selfless directing of thousands of instrumentalists; and for the devotion he brings both to the word and to the Word, it is our honor to dedicate the 2019 Vintage to Dr. Dan Turner.