Matthew Thomas Turnley

Matthew Thomas Turnley, 27, passed away on March 28th, 2025, after a two-and-a-half-year battle with brain cancer. Matt was a loving brother, son, partner, and friend. Though his time was too short, he lived a full life, traveling to all 50 states and over a dozen countries, completing two degrees, publishing multiple scientific papers, running a marathon, and finding the love of his life, Shea.

Matt grew up in Manhattan, KS, where, along with his twin brother, Ben, he was a middle child in the Turnley household. From a young age, Matt, Ben, and their youngest brother, Michael, learned that if they banded together, they could turn the tables and pick on their oldest brother, JT. This attitude of poking fun and competition with his brothers extended throughout his life. Matt’s competitiveness also translated to years of involvement with sports. He played soccer, tennis, basketball, baseball, and ran cross country at different points in his youth. In the classroom, Matt was always an excellent student. Outside of the classroom, Matt regularly showed his kind heart through volunteer work, where he was especially passionate about working with kids.

Matt’s academic and athletic excellence extended to his time at Simpson College, where he played on both the soccer and tennis teams. This created a friendly divide in the Turnley family as his brothers Ben and Michael attended rival Central College. In soccer, Matt and Ben ended their college careers each having 3 wins and 3 losses against the other. Matt beat Michael in their only head-to-head matchup in tennis. Beyond athletics, Matt found his passion for biology and research while in college, initially spending a summer at Simpson researching the effects of land use on water quality before later having summer research stints at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory and the Konza Prairie Biological Station. Matt graduated from Simpson in 2020 with a B.S. in Environmental Science and Business Management.

Matt’s fulfilling research experiences during his undergrad prompted him to pursue a M.S. in Wildlife and Wildlands Conservation at Brigham Young University, which he completed in 2022. While at BYU, Matt spent his summers living in the Utah wilderness studying the population ecology of elk and mule deer. Exceptionally passionate about his research, Matt was very proud of the scientific papers he published based on this work. Matt also took advantage of the beautiful nature that Utah has to offer, spending much of his free time skiing, hiking, and tubing in the mountains near Provo. On top of that, he also managed to find the time to train for and then complete a full marathon, coming in with a time of 3 hours and 47 minutes. While completing a marathon was impressive enough, he was particularly relieved that he beat Oprah Winfrey’s marathon time of 4 hours, 29 minutes.

Matt’s ultimate dream was to earn a doctorate and teach at the university level, and in the fall of 2022, Matt started working towards his Ph.D. in Natural Resource Ecology and Management at Oklahoma State University where he expanded his ungulate ecology research to include pronghorn. He had hoped to complete his doctoral degree in the spring of 2026. It was while he was in Oklahoma that he met the love of his life, Shea Penning. The two were frequent patrons of Oklahoma City’s theatres, festivals, and museums and spent many evenings going to trivia with Ben and his wife Karleigh. Matt and Shea would often be seen giggling together over one of their many inside jokes.

Matt took full advantage of the time he had on Earth. During his childhood, his parents, Sabine and Bill, took Matt and his brothers around the country visiting national parks. By traveling to a mammalogy conference in Alaska and then visiting Hawaii with Shea and her family, Matt became the first Turnley to travel to all 50 states. He watched the sunrise from the tops of several of Colorado’s tallest mountains after hiking all the way to their peaks before dawn. He ventured into the remote parts of Utah to help tag bears and mountain lions and rode in helicopters to track down various ungulates. He strolled with elephants in Vietnam and spent time in the jungles of Costa Rica. And with his witty charm and sarcastic sense of humor, Matt built strong friendships and community everywhere he went. Ultimately, Matt cared deeply for the people around him and left a lasting mark on the people who were lucky enough to know him well. He will be missed.

Matt is survived by his parents, Bill and Sabine, brothers JT, Ben, and Michael, sisters-in-law Erika, Karleigh, and Kate, partner Shea, and her parents, Mike and Trudy.

 A memorial service will be held on April 5th, 2025, at 12:00 PM at the First United Methodist Church, 612 Poyntz Ave., Manhattan, KS 66502. The memorial service will also be streamed on the church’s Facebook page: “First United Methodist Church of Manhattan, KS.” We encourage those attending to incorporate color, especially green (his favorite color), into their outfits to symbolize Matt’s love for life. Matt requested that a portion of his money be used to start a summer research scholarship at Simpson College. In lieu of flowers, we encourage donations to this scholarship. Checks can be mailed to Simpson College Office of Advancement, 701 N C Street, Indianola, IA 50125, noting Matthew Turnley Memorial Fund in the memo section. Gifts can be made online at https://access.simpson.edu/register/gift2annualfund by selecting the “Other” category and typing Matthew Turnley Memorial Fund.