B.W. COOK -- The Crowd

Local society lost a cherished friend this month to breast cancer.

Katherine Evans Turner, 79, passed away at home in Newport Beach

surrounded by loving family and an abundant rose garden in full summer

bloom.

Katherine, known as Kay to her large extended family of friends in

Newport Beach, was passionate about roses, so it is especially poetic to

mention how much this artistic woman enjoyed sharing her flowers with

loved ones.

Kay’s daughter Jan Turner Hering, a highly regarded local interior

designer, shared, “Mother was a lifelong gardener with a love of roses.

She grew, cut and arranged her blooms in large bunches for her family and

friends.”

Turner was also a serious and respected artist who painted throughout

her lifetime, with many of her canvases featuring the gardens that she

tended with consuming care. Hering added, “These works of art are

memorable, tangible reminders of a loving and special woman who had a

gift.”

Kay Turner was born in Long Beach on July 1, 1922. Her parents,

Lillian and Frank Evans, had come to the United States from London,

England. The family later moved to Pasadena, where Kay was raised with

her older sister Jean, who survives her.

As a young woman, the very beautiful Kay, who was also gifted with an

exceptional musical talent, traveled the United States entertaining

home-based service men during the war -- from 1942 through 1945.

It was during this time that she met, fell in love and married her

man, John J. Turner. The newlyweds moved back to her Long Beach roots

following their union in 1944, and had two children including daughter

Jan and son Stephen.

Following the war, the family went about creating their own slice of

the American dream in the Southern California of the late 1940s and ‘50s.

Beyond her family responsibilities, Kay went on to become a

professional fashion model. She was a natural. For many years she graced

the local runways showing off clothes, with a great sense of style and

good taste putting her in great demand with retailers and fashion

producers.

Hering remembers, “This was a woman who exemplified good taste

wherever she went and in whatever endeavor she undertook. Mother was very

much a role model, not just for my brother and myself, but for her

friends and for the community at large.”

Close friend Gloria Osbrink, with whom Kay served for many years on

the board of the Orange County House Ear Institute Associates, added, “I

don’t know if I will ever get over this loss. Kay was such a remarkable

woman and such a true and loving friend. She was indeed a community

treasure and role model. People cherished her, looked up to her, wanted

to be like her.”

The House Ear Institute, founded by Dr. Howard House of Newport Beach

and Los Angeles to save the lives and improve the quality of life for the

hearing damaged and or impaired, was one of the charitable endeavors of

the late Kay Turner. She served on the board and assisted in organizing

the annual golf tournament, which is a mainstay fund-raiser for the

Orange County Associates.

Her devotion to the projects of the Assistance League also stand as a

tribute to this woman who embodied a strong sense of community spirit.

Along with her husband John, who survives her, the Turners were also

active fund-raisers for Hoag Memorial Hospital and for the Boy Scouts of

America.

Moving from Long Beach to Newport Beach in 1975, Kay and John were

early members of Big Canyon Country Club, enjoying many years of

wonderful golf together and with friends and family.

Those who knew Kay Turner report that she was a class act until the

end. Breast cancer took her life, but did not diminish her love of life,

of family and of the people who were her greatest joy in the community.

The metaphoric reference to the abundance of summer roses in her garden

is the perfect tribute to Kay Turner, a vibrant and thriving rose in her

own right.

She will live on in the hearts of those she touched, including husband

John, daughter Jan, son Stephen and grandchildren Anne, Field, John and

Bren, along with sister Jean, just as the majesty of nature brings roses

back to life with each passing season.

* THE CROWD appears Thursdays and Saturdays.