Suzanne Pauline Wilbert "Sue" Turner died peacefully at home on December 27, 2020, of natural causes. She was born on January 16, 1927 -- the year of the Great Flood -- in Plaquemine, LA, to Gertrude Pope and Louis J. Wilbert. After her quiet childhood growing up during the Great Depression when family life centered on the cycle of sugar cane production, she left Plaquemine and began college at Our Lady of the Lake in San Antonio, but transferred to LSU for her senior year, her mother being concerned about the spread of polio at the time. Her life of nearly a century covered some of the most turbulent and defining times of the twentieth century, locally and nationally, including the growth of the petrochemical corridor near Baton Rouge, the second World War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Environmental Movement, and the American Bicentennial.
Sue met husband Bert Turner at LSU where he recently graduated in mechanical engineering and was working at Esso. They married in 1947, and soon moved to Boston where Bert pursued an MBA at Harvard, graduating with distinction. These years of urban living in the frozen North were a challenge to Sue who’d never lived far away from home. She worked at the South Boston branch of the Boston Public Library while her husband studied. Without a refrigerator in their tiny space, she would buy milk and store it outside on the windowsill.
After the couple’s return to Baton Rouge, five children were born. Bert worked several jobs and started several businesses eventually turning a bankrupt construction company he acquired into what is now Turner Industries Group. Sue’s understanding of what makes a vibrant and thriving urban place was greatly expanded by her time in the Northeast, and she soon began working as a community volunteer, first through the Junior League, where she would eventually serve as President. Her first placement was at the new Louisiana Arts & Science Museum where she quickly bonded with the first director, the late painter Adalie Brent. This friendship and camaraderie resulted in a life as champion of museums and other cultural institutions, and as founder of multiple projects to elevate Baton Rouge’s quality of community resources, from public spaces, to parks, to outdoor sculpture. Together Turner and Brent successfully lobbied then Mayor Woody Dumas to build the Centroplex downtown on the River, rather than at the former airport site, now Independence Park. They also became colleagues of the late sculpture professor Frank Hayden, and the three promoted art in public places, particularly in the re-emerging Baton Rouge downtown.
Turner felt that it was important to help create a community where all citizens had access to the kinds of opportunities that she’d enjoyed. That required work on many fronts, including BREC where she served for decades, Catholic Social Services, Elderly Services Advisory Board, Preserve Louisiana, and others. She said she was most proud of having received the Brotherhood Award from the local chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews in 1998.
Early on, Turner realized the value of non-profit networks, and the need to educate herself about best practices nationally by attending meetings and conferences. She returned with examples of how progress had been made in other communities, and applied these to Baton Rouge. She was not content to simply advocate for cultural resources and historic preservation in her hometown, but also served on the State Museum Board, the Friends of the Cabildo, the Review Board for the National Register, and became engaged in the national conversations as federal policies and funding began to invigorate American urban centers. She attended museum conferences in the United States and abroad, and became a regional advisor and later Trustee for the young National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Turner’s calling as civic leader and public servant was galvanized when she and colleague Winnie Byrd began to tackle the landmarks in the city that were threatened and neglected, including the Magnolia Mound House, the Old State Capitol, and the train depot (now LASM).
Perhaps it was her work as leader and board member of non-profits where her most important contributions were made. She was a visionary who could articulate a concept, firmly but diplomatically cut through issues, and convince groups to do the right thing. She realized that change couldn’t be rushed, so with dogged determination she attended meetings where she led groups by example. Many of her ideas are still in the process of becoming reality.
Turner’s true loves were her family, her church, and gardening. She worked hard to keep the growing family together for annual traditions, gathering at her beloved Live Oak for holidays and weddings. As a founding member of St. Aloysius Church, she has been a daily communicant at Mass for decades, and served as Eucharistic Minister. Her parish was a very important part of her daily life.
Turner was predeceased by her parents, her husband Bert Silger Turner, and her older brother Louis J. Wilbert, Jr. She is survived by her five children and their partners Suzanne Turner and Scott Purdin, Robert L. Turner and Peter Speliopoulos of New York, Mary Margaret “Moo” Svendson and her husband Martin, Thomas H. Turner and his wife Sari, and John G. Turner and Jerry G. Fischer; by her younger brother William P. Wilbert and wife Sofia of New Braunfels, TX; and a niece Jane Wilbert of New Orleans; grandchildren Robert Douglass Svendson and wife Kallie, Jeanne Svendson Campbell and husband R, Wade Svendson and wife Sally, Amanda Purdin Standish and husband Rhein, Sydney Turner Bankston and husband Keller, and Austen Siebert Turner. Great-grandchildren include Jane Turner and Isla Svendson, Eloise Suzanne Standish, and R Wade and Grace Martin Campbell.
The family would like to express heartfelt gratitude to Theresa Leuschner, who cared for Bert, and then Sue, for fifteen years. Her professionalism, optimism, and sense of humor brightened many of our days. Also William Harris, who cared for Live Oak Plantation for more than thirty years. Sue was fortunate to have dedicated caretakers during the last few years including Kim, Marilyn, Mae, Rachael, Mary Ann, and Latrice.
The family request memorial donations be made to the Friends of Magnolia Mound, the LASM, the Friends of Hilltop Arboretum, or BREADA.
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