Rachel Ann Higginbotham Turner, age 81 of Scottsboro, passed away on October 29, 2025. Funeral services were held on November 8, 2025 from the Rudder Funeral Home Chapel. Internment followed in the Cedar Hill Cemetery.
Mrs. Turner is survived by her sons, Jim Turner, John Turner, and Jason Turner; her grandchildren, Trey, Tyler, Tori, Tate, Jackson, E.J., Ashley and Evan; sisters, Billy Maples, Peggy Drews and Elizabeth Wayne.
Just one day before her passing, she got to meet her first Great Granddaughter, Ronnie Anne.
Mrs. Turner was preceded in death by the love of her life and husband, James Turner, who passed only ten months prior; her brother Corp. Richard Lee Higginbotham, who was killed in Vietnam on April 14, 1970; and her parents, Bill and Bernice Higginbotham.
Rachel was born in Scottsboro on Monday, May 8th, 1944 to Bill and Bernice Higginbotham. She was the oldest of five children. Her shy demeanor, sharp wit, and striking beauty persisted throughout her life winning many beauty pageants after graduating from Scottsboro High School in 1962.
The combination of her extreme beauty, her warm smile, and blazing bright countenance made her the center of everyone’s attention anywhere she went. As a young girl in 1958, while walking home from school on a beautiful Spring day down Charlotte Street, she caught the eye of a young man named James Turner. The two were eventually married on Sunday, October 11th, 1964 at the First United Methodist Church. They became inseparable throughout their sixty- one years of marriage and raised three sons with Rachel working as the Jewelry Manager of the Scottsboro Kmart until her retirement in 1998.
Rachel’s life was filled with love of family, laughter, scrap booking, jewelry making, and her grandchildren. She loved traveling, Elvis, drawing, and arts/crafts. Rachel was a wonderful, insightful mother to her sons, and a loving, devoted wife to her husband. She became loving known as “Grammy” to all of her grandchildren those that loved her. Although Rachel was small in stature, being only 5’ 2” and 113lbs, she was strong in her spirit having a deep love for our Lord Jesus Christ.
