Lynn Turner, Republican Volunteer, Dies at 65

Lynn Turner, a longtime volunteer for Orange County’s Republican Party, died Monday after a long illness. She was 65.

Turner was an ardent supporter of Republicans at all levels of government, in particular state Sen. Marian Bergeson of Newport Beach.

Reached Monday at her Sacramento office, Bergeson said she had known Turner for more than 30 years. It was Turner, she said, who persuaded her to run for a seat in the state Assembly in 1976.

“She was a very close friend of many, many years, and I was deeply saddened when I heard of her passing away this morning,” Bergeson said. “She deeply believed in the political process in a positive way.”

Turner, a homemaker, was born and raised in Clinton, Iowa, in a strongly political family. Two of her brothers and her father served as Republicans in the Iowa Legislature.

Turner’s own activities included organizing the party’s Youth Leadership Institute and serving as chairman of its Youth Associates Advisory Committee.

“It was her habit to bring young people together to introduce them to our philosophy and values,” said Thomas A. Fuentes, chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County. “She was a very active grass-roots Republican volunteer.”

Turner established and administered the Dwight D. Eisenhower Scholarship Program for high school seniors and in 1980 escorted a delegation of high school students to the Republican National Convention in Detroit.

She also served as chairwoman of the Newport Beach Committee on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, establishing a “Bill of Rights” flagpole on the Balboa Peninsula in 1991.

Turner is survived by her husband, Dale, and her son, Tom, both of Newport Beach. Funeral arrangements are pending.