Dr. Margery J. Turner

Dr. Margery J. Turner, died May 20, 2004, at the age of 83. She earned a B.S. degree from Chicago Teachers College in 1943, an M.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1947, and a Doctoral degree from New York University in 1957. She studied with many outstanding, modern dance artists including, Sybil Shearer of Chicago, Louise Kloepper and Margaret H. Doubler in Wisconsin, Elizabeth Waters in Santa Fe, N.M., Hanya Holm and Alwin Nikolais in both Colorado, and New York City, and with Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, Sophie Maslow and Louis Horst in Connecticut. Dr. Turner is the author of three books on dance and numerous articles and research. A pioneer in educational dance, she introduced Modern Dance as an art form into the curriculum at the University of Nevada, Reno, and at the University of Illinois at Champaign from 1947 to 1951. Dr. Turner developed the B.A. and B.F.A. programs in Modern Dance and established the dance department in Mason Gross School of Arts of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, where she spent the last 27 years of her teaching career. Since her retirement in 1985 she has pursued sculpture. Her bronze bust of Hanya Holm is part of the permanent collection of the Dance Research Library at Lincoln Center for the Arts in New York. Dr. Turner is entombed at Mount Auburn Cemetery Mausoleum, 4101 S. Oak Park Ave., Stickney, Illinois. A Memorial Service will be held on June 19, 2004, at 1 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 1047 Curtiss, Downers Grove, Illinois. Contributions may be sent either to the Margery Turner Scholarship Fund at Rutgers University Foundation, New Brunswick, N.J. 08903, or the Anticruelty Society, 157 Grand Ave., Chicago, IL 60610. Arrangements made by Mount Auburn Funeral Directors, Mount Auburn Funeral Home, 4101 S. Oak Park Ave., Stickney, IL, 708-749-2033.