Melinda Baker Turner

On the morning of June 25, 2026, Melinda Turner returned to her heavenly home.

She was born in Mesa, Arizona on January 8, 1952 to William Elmer Baker and Elaine Rowley Baker. She was the oldest of six siblings, who all survive her. After graduating from Mesa High School, she attended Brigham Young University and earned a degree in Speech Language Pathology. She served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Venezuela.

In 1976 she married Monte Earl Turner in the Mesa Arizona Temple. They spent time in Utah and Georgia before settling in Ohio to raise a family. They were looking forward to celebrating their 50th anniversary in December.

Together, Monte and Melinda were blessed with four insert-adjective-here children: Stephanie (Michael) Hodnett, Darbie (Chad) Worthen, Whitney (Jacob) Lauritzen, and Derrick (Anika) Turner. As the years passed, their family grew to add 18 cherished grandchildren.

Melinda was a faithful, lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her absolute favorite way to serve in the church was as the Primary Music Leader, a calling she enjoyed many times throughout her life, including at the time of her passing. She loved sharing her testimony of the gospel with children through music.

Music was a major part of Melinda’s life. She taught hundreds of children to play the piano. She enjoyed singing and playing in musical groups throughout her life. She rarely attended a funeral where she wasn’t on the program as a vocalist or organist. She also played the ukulele and flute and collected unusual world instruments.

Melinda excelled at creative endeavors including, but not limited to, calligraphy, quilting, cake decorating, needlework, knitting, crochet, tatting, embroidery, sewing, rubberstamping, flower arranging, stained glass, and twisting balloon animals. After she mastered a craft, she would go on to teach it to others. She had an incredible gift for teaching.

Melinda let her creativity shine through every part of her life! With her creative genius, she could entertain kids for hours with just a piece of masking tape or a tissue, write her own lyrics to well-known songs while maintaining perfect rhythm and rhyme, construct a three-layer wedding cake out of baskets, turn a giant faux cactus into a one-of-a-kind Southwest Christmas tree, sew and paint a rattlesnake costume for an epic third-grade animal report, sew wedding dresses for all of her daughters, turn anything with a clearance tag into a prop for Primary music, find new life for cardboard toilet paper rolls and empty pill bottles, cut hair for important life events, brainstorm family website ideas, turn a fabric remnant into a children’s playhouse, design and execute family floats for the local fourth of July parade, and find good in people even when it was a little hidden.

Melinda loved words and word games like Scrabble. Her last communication before her sudden passing was sharing her daily Wordle score. Always eager to add another hobby, she took up chair yoga when moving back to Arizona and loved it. Pickleball was her latest new obsession.

Melinda is survived by her husband Monte, all four of her children and their spouses, and 17 grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents Bill and Elaine, sister-in-law Patsy, and granddaughter Liliana.

The funeral service will be held on Tuesday, July 7th, 2026 at 11:00 am at 787 E. Kortsen Rd, Casa Grande, AZ. Visitation with the family will begin at 10.

Please excuse any typos, awkward transitions, or poor grammar, as Mom was my editor, too.