Celia Turner, Community Activist, Dies of Cancer

Local community activist Celia Turner died at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian after a three-year fight with cancer. She was 58.

Turner, who died Friday, was the wife of former Newport Beach City Councilman Clarence J. Turner.

“The city has lost a very valuable contributor and one who had a special outreach to the less fortunate,” Clarence Turner said.

About 10 years ago, Clarence Turner recalled, his wife saw a television program featuring a poor family struggling to make ends meet. Celia Turner contacted the program’s producer, got in touch with the family, he said, and “every month for the rest of their lives, we sent them a monthly check.”

“That was her outreach--no tax deduction, no mentions in the social registry” for her work, he added. “That was the way she operated.”

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Celia Turner spent the last 21 years of her life in Newport Beach, where she helped raise funds and provide services for Hoag Auxiliary, National Charity League, AIDS Project Los Angeles, Friends of the Newport Beach Public Library and Opera Pacific.

Celia Turner was active in helping to drum up support and financial backing for the $8.2-million Newport Beach Central Library, which opened July 1994. She also served as deacon at Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, where she ran the bookstore for nine years.

Celia Turner is survived by her husband; her daughter, Irene Turner; her son and daughter-in-law, Clarence and Julie Turner; her granddaughter, Hailey; and her brother and sisters, Fred Salter, Lucille Harrison and Dorothy Hayes.

A private graveside service is scheduled at Pacific View Cemetery on Tuesday at 10 a.m. A public memorial service is scheduled to follow at 11 a.m. at Saint Andrew’s.

In lieu of flowers, family members asked that donations be sent to the AIDS Services Foundation, 17982 Skypark, Unit J, Irvine, CA 92614 and/or the Hoag Cancer Center, 1 Hoag Drive, P.O. Box 6100, Newport Beach, CA 92658.