BCA's Marla Winkleback one of the Turner triplets.

 

 

 

DECATUR — The Turner Triplets say they have been blessed since they were born 75 years ago.

Left to right:  Marcy Dillow, Marilyn Corley and Marla Winkleblack

“We know we’re miracle babies,” said Marcy Dillow. “We all know, number one, if it wasn’t for God that we wouldn’t be here.”

Dillow, along with her sisters Marla Winkleblack and Marilyn Corley, are healthy and doing well, but they didn’t start out that way.

“We were all six-months babies,” Winkleblack said. “And we’re identical.”

The Turner Triplets will celebrate their next birthday on Aug. 25.

“That’s scary,” Corley said.

“Impossible,” added Dillow.

 “I think it’s wonderful,” Winkleblack said. “If you don’t turn 75, you’re not here.”

According to their mother Vonnie Turner's tales, the doctor heard only one heartbeat while she was pregnant. The girls’ birth was considered a phenomenon in 1947. “Way back then they didn’t have all of the medical equipment to save babies like they do now,” Corley said. “We’ve always felt like it was a miracle that we all survived with no major issues.”

Winkleblack was born with vision problems and attended Decatur schools separate from her sisters. “It made me very independent,” she said.

“She’s the stronger one,” Dillow said. “She’s got more guts.”

Their births took place in St. Francis Hospital in Peoria, the only facility to accommodate premature babies at the time. None of the girls weighed more than three pounds when they were born.

“Mom always felt that we were her miracle babies,” Corley said. “Dad did too, but mom said it.”

Although their mother was ready to take on her surprisingly growing family, their father, Johnnie Turner, was more concerned. “He said, ‘Vonnie, what are we going to do with all of them’,” Winkleblack said, remembered the stories.

 “She told dad, ‘Well, Johnnie, we’re going to keep them’,” Dillow repeated.

“Mom was a strong person,” Corley said. “Things don’t shake her.” Each daughter was brought home two weeks apart. “They got used to one before that got the second, then the third one, home,” Corley said.

The couple moved back to Decatur to be with family shortly after the triplets were born. As the girls grew they began to draw attention. “And we hated the attention,” Dillow said.

Each milestone brought the newspaper reporters and photographers to the event, including their first trip to see Santa Claus, their first birthday, even their first hair cut.

“But we’ve enjoyed being triplets,” Winkleblack said.

“We drive our husbands crazy,” Corley agreed.

The women have witnessed an intuition among each other. “People don’t believe it, but we do,” Dillow said. “You know when they are down or worried about something. You can feel it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

The women admit they may be close, but they have followed their own paths. All three are retired and visit each other, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren as much as possible.

Before their mother died five years ago, the sisters included her in their outings and adventures. “After dad passed, anything we did, it was the four of us,” Corley said.

“We treated mom like a sister,” Dillow added.

The ladies get together as much as possible. Dillow and Winkleblack live in Central Illinois. Corley resides just three hours away in Indiana. They often meet up to go shopping and dine at a restaurant. “We continue as much as we can,” Corley said. “We know it’s not going to last forever.”

Although the sisters admit they have lived through difficult seasons in their lives, they insist on seeing the positive side of life.

“Things turn out and we move on,” Winkleblack said.

“We’ve all been blessed,” Corley said