Leone Annette Turner

She was born November 6, 1917, in Grand Ledge, Michigan, and graduated from Michigan State College as a master in music, with emphasis on voice and piano. In her early years she was a vocalist in the Lansing area; she was a finalist in the Midwestern auditions for the Metropolitan Opera. In Lansing she grew into her life’s profession as a teacher of children’s church choirs, which blossomed into service in the decades ahead as children’s choir director at Plymouth Church in Lawrence, Kansas, and University Congregational UCC in Seattle. Later in life she pursued her interest in poetry. But her family came first.

In 1939 she married fellow MSC student Thomas Butters who was killed over Germany in 1945. In 1948 she was remarried to a young minister, Dale Turner, her pastor in Lansing. Thus began a team relationship of 58 years, starting with a move to Lawrence and, ten years later, to Seattle. Here Leone maintained her active interest in musical life of the city, including a dozen years as director and co-chair of the chorus at the Women’s University Club. She was a long-term supporter of both the Children’s Home Society of Washington and the “Friends of Youth” program, serving on its board of directors. For over twenty years Leone both edited and typed all Dale’s articles as religion columnist at the Seattle Times.

He preceded her in death, as did her son Bob. She is survived by her sister, Jeanette Miller of Montpelier, Ohio, by three sons, Gregory, Charles and Drew, by eight grandchildren and four great-granddaughters.

A service of remembrance and celebration will be held at University Congregational UCC at 3 pm on Saturday, July 23. Memorial gifts may be made to University Congregational UCC for the “Children’s Music Program” or to the “Friends of Youth.”

Arrangements under the direction of Acacia Memorial Park & Funeral Home, Seattle, Washington.