Alison Mary Turner

Alison Mary Turner, 82, died in her sleep at Hillside Nursing Center in Wake Forest on March 2, 2013 after a ten year battle with Alzheimer’s. She was born in England, the daughter of Royal Naval Captain and Mrs. John Hammill. She attended school and college in England, receiving her B.A. and M.A. degrees from Cambridge University.

In 1957 she married Carl Turner from Pennsylvania, and the following year they moved to Washington, DC, for two years, where she taught French at the Holton Arms School. After moving to North Carolina in 1960, she taught French at NC Central University for three years. In 1967 she received her doctorate in Romance Languages from UNC Chapel Hill, and she continued teaching French and German locally until increasing deafness forced her retirement from the classroom.

For ten years she worked as Associate Director for Adult Services at the Cued Speech Center, helping others overcome the frustrations of hearing loss. In 1983 she founded the Wake County Chapter of the volunteer organization Self Help for Hard of Hearing People. Later, she became one for the first trustees of the state association, NC-SHHH, and then State Chapter Coordinator for five years from 1993 to 1998.

Surviving are her husband, Dr. Carl B. Turner and two married sons, Jonathan and Nicholas and one grandchild, also her sister Gillian Hammill.

The family would like to thank the dedicated staff at Hillside Nursing Center for their loving care and support these past seven years.

The memorial service will be held at 11 AM at the Church of the Good Shepherd, 125 Hillsborough St, Raleigh with interment at Oakwood Cemetery immediately following. The family will receive friends prior to the service from 10:00 - 10:45 AM in the parlor of the church.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the National Cued Speech Association, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 190-713, Washington, DC 20004 or to the Shepherd's Table Soup Kitchen, 121 Hillsborough St. Raleigh, NC 27603.

Arrangements by Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, St. Mary's St.