A memorial reception will be held for Katherine Clemson “Kay” Turner on Monday, June 29, at 11 a.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church in Towson.

A hardworking community activist in her day and a longtime chairwoman of the Towson Area Fourth of July Parade, Mrs. Turner died from a heart attack June 22, 2009 at Oak Lodge Senior Home in Pasadena. She was 85.

Mrs. Turner, also known as Kitty or KC, was born in Westminster to Charles and Mary Clemson.

“Kay was a devoted community activist who loved the Fourth of July, loved her flag and loved her country,” said former councilman Doug Riley.

“She could be controversial. She was very strong-minded, but she got results, and the truth is the parade got better and better.”

On the day of the parade, she was “intense,” said former Fourth of July parade chairman John Hayden. “She was everywhere at once, pushing us to make the parade memorable.”

Mrs. Turner also was instrumental in building the Greater Towson Council of Community Associations,

Towson’s residential umbrella group, into what it is today, Riley said. “She was a major player for a number of years.”

Dick Parsons, Mrs. Turner’s former neighbor, recalls her as “an indefatigable worker who devoted her life to community organizations.”

She graduated from St. Mary’s Female Seminary, now St. Mary’s College of Maryland, in 1942; Western Maryland College, now McDaniel College, in 1944; and the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, where she was in the Army Nurses Cadet Corp., in 1947.

In 1948, she married Arthur G. Turner, who died in February  2008 in Westminster, but continued to work as a nurse after her marriage.

After moving to Towson in 1954, Mrs. Turner became active in various community groups, including the parade committee, the Greater Towson Council and the Southland Hills Community Association.

Mrs. Turner was active in the St. Mary’s College Alumnae Association and served as its president in the early 1960s.

She was a 60-year member of the William Winchester Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and worked with the Children of the American Revolution in Baltimore and Carroll counties for many years.

She also taught Sunday school at Trinity Episcopal Church in Towson and was active in the Altar Guild.
Mrs. Turner moved from Towson more than 10 years ago to St. Mary’s County, where she lived until she moved to Oak Lodge in April.

She is survived by two daughters, Margo Turner of, Greenbelt, and Katie Turner, of Columbia; a son, Navy Cmdr. Charles Arthur Philip Turner and his wife, Amber, of Lompoc, Calif., and two grandchildren, Philip Anthony Turner and Sadie Grace Turner.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Mrs. Turner’s name to the St. Mary’s College of Maryland Foundation Inc., marked for the Alumni Endowed Scholarship Fund, and sent to Development Office, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 18592 E. Fisher Road, St. Mary’s City, MD 20686.

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