Susan Turner

none Susan Colleen Turner, 67, an Olympia resident of 41 years, passed away December 10, 2011, from liver cancer at home with family members at her bedside. Susan was born July 19, 1944 in Springfield, Oregon, to Jean Eunice Smith and Eugene Clark Smith. Susan is survived by husband Terry Turner of Olympia, son Jeff Turner of Yakima, and brother Michael Smith of Renton. A Celebration of Life will be held at South Sound Manor, 455 North Street SE, Tumwater, WA, January 8, 2012, at 1:00 PM, Pastor Amy Walters of the First Christian Church of Olympia presiding. There will be a reception following the service. Susan graduated from Springfield High School in 1962 and from the University of Oregon Honors College, receiving a bachelors degree in romance languages in 1967. She taught Spanish and English at Naselle and Shelton high schools. Susan and Terry met when Susan was teaching in Naselle and Terry was teaching music in Ilwaco. They were married in 1969 in Springfield, Oregon. Susan had a passion for learning, teaching, and helping others. Her life was centered around her son and her husband. She served as a volunteer in the schools Jeff attended from elementary through high school, and served as co-chair of the North Thurston High School Booster Club Fund Raising Committee for a number of years. She was very active in the Parent Teacher’s Association, Boy Scouts of America, Trout Unlimited and had served as secretary of the Washington State Council of Trout Unlimited. Throughout her life, Susan maintained her great love for reading and greatly enjoyed people. Following her retirement from full time teaching, Susan did food demonstrations at Costco and participated in substitute teaching in the North Thurston School District. Susan had a life long metabolic disease, OTC, which was kept under control by diet. One of the doctors, Dr. Batshaw, Susan worked with over the years, is quoted below: "Susan Turner was a most remarkable woman who I had the honor of knowing for almost 20 years while I served as a metabolic consultant for Jeff and research director for an important project she participated in 1996. During that time I knew her to be a very bright and talented person, a wonderful mother, and a humanitarian who wanted to help not only her son, but others afflicted with the rare disease, ornithine transcarbamylase or OTC deficiency. “Susan saved Jeff's life through her careful watching over dietary issues, measuring medications, and catching potentially life-threatening illnesses early. She also supported Jeff and Terry as mother and wife during multiple hospitalizations and crises. I was in awe of her sophisticated knowledge of the disease and approaches to treatment. “When my colleagues and I came up with the idea of a new treatment for OTC deficiency, gene therapy, she was the first person to step forward to participate. She did so for Jeff but also for the other children with the disease. She wrote a wonderful article about her experience in the trial that appeared in the publication of the patient advocacy group. “When I became aware of her final illness and tried to assure that she received the best care, her major focus was to stay alive for Jeff and for Terry. She fought valiantly against a disease which is universally fatal and left this world only after Terry told her at the end saying that it was ok and that Jeff and he would be all right. “Susan Turner left this world a better place for her having walked upon it. I will miss hearing her voice as I know you, her friends and family will, but she will remain in our hearts forever." Mark L. Batshaw, M.D. Before her death, Susan requested her liver be sent back east for continuing study and research of the relationship between hepatocellular carcinoma and OTC. Donations may be sent in memory of Susan Turner to Tracy Church, Children's Hospital Foundation, 111 Michigan Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20010 for research in OTC deficiency.