Beatrice Jean Turner Palmer, Alaska Obituary

Beatrice Jean Turner

Longtime Fishhook Area resident Beatrice J. Turner, 95, died peacefully May 9, 2022, at the Palmer Pioneer Home. A celebration of life and wake will be held July 2, at 4:00 p.m. at the home of Joe Turner, at 8214 East Turner Road (just behind the Fishhook Firehall on Turner Road). Mrs. Turner was born Nov. 28, 1926, to James G. Gilmer and Gladys F. Gilmer (Hutson) in Auglaize County, Ohio. Her parents were successful farmers. She graduated from high school in Waynesfield, Ohio, in 1944 and from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, in 1948. Later in life she received a Master’s Degree in Teaching and a Master’s Degree in Library Science. In 1954, she married Lee O. Turner and she later said, all she wanted to do was follow Lee. And the adventure began. From the time they first met, onto 1958, they taught in Ohio, Wyoming, Utah, Washington State and Michigan. In 1958, they built a camper on their Jeep Truck and left Michigan with their 3 very young children, to go back out west. When they reach Montana, Lee informed Bea that he had a teaching and coaching job lined up in a place called Seldovia, in the territory of Alaska. Bea was hesitant; she said she could not live without trees. So, they went to a bookstore for information and as fate would have it, the July edition of the Alaska Sportsman Magazine had a cover story on Seldovia, trees and all. So up the Alaska Highway they went, arriving in Seldovia (across the water) on August 26, 1958. In 1960, the Turners moved to the Matanuska Valley and first lived outside Wasilla on Knik Road. In 1963, Mrs. Turner returned to work as a school librarian, to start the first elementary school library in what was to become the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, at Central School in Palmer. Later she transferred to Swanson Elementary School and remained there until her retirement in 1984. In 1965, the Turners settled on an undeveloped 80-acre homestead, on the banks the Little Susitna River, in the Fishhook area, at the base of Hatcher Pass, and named it “Singing Waters”. And in succeeding years, with their own hands, built their home and raised their family and a number of dogs, cats, chickens and a garden and greenhouse. After her retirement she enjoyed serving the public with her interest in public libraries and on the Wasilla Knik Historical Society Board. In the years after her husband’s death in 1994, she embarked on her last big project, the remodeling of her home and the construction of a new garage. Mrs. Turner had an abiding interest in current affairs and politics, which she loved to discuss. She enjoyed her flower garden and the wild flowers of Hatcher Pass, in which every spring and mid-summer, in the company of a good friend, would do her wild flower tours. She thoroughly enjoyed her four grandsons, all of whom lived within walking distance of her home. Until the age 76, she was a familiar winter presence in Hatcher Pass, being the driver for her sons and grandsons and assorted passengers, in the Big Red Ford, on 16 Mile Ski Run. Mrs. Turner had an appreciation for the arts and had a collection of sculptures, drawings, prints and paintings done by family, friends and local artists. She enjoyed playing the piano and singing, she participated in local choirs. And many gatherings at the Turner’s ended up around the piano with her playing and everyone singing. And that laugh, heard through all the din and raucous noise, that laugh, we can still hear that laugh. Mrs. Turner is survived by sons Jim and Lin, both of the Fishhook Area; grandsons, Joe, Garrett and Kellin, all of the Fishhook Area and Dan of Willow; and great-grandchildren Gauge, Gavin and Aiyana. She was preceded in death by her husband Lee, daughter Dena Turner of the Fishhook Area and brother John Gilmer of Waynesfield, Ohio. Arrangements were handled by Kehl’s Palmer Mortuary.
November 28, 1926 - May 9, 202211/28/192605/09/2022
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