Betty Turner

Betty Jean Turner was born on August 12, 1944 in Metter GA to Willie Pearl and H.S. Turner. The Turner family migrated north and settled in Penns Grove NJ, where Betty Turner received her formal education. She later moved to Camden NJ, where she worked at different jobs. In the late 1980s and 1990s she worked at the Woodland Care Nursing Home on Linden Street in North Camden.

Betty Turner, known to her many friends as “Bet” and “B.T.,” loved music, loved to dance, and was known to many in the Kaighnsville neighborhood in Camden, where she lived. Betty liked to party and to take a drink, and she would meet her many friends at Ye Olde Tymers Club on South 5th Street, The Red Carpet Lounge on Broadway, and Krystal Lounge at South 8th and Chestnut Streets, a short walk from her home in the 700 block of Mount Vernon Street, where she lived alone in the mid-1990s.

Betty Turner suffered a stroke while home alone in May of 1997. She was not found for over 24 hours, and was rushed to Cooper Hospital. After a valiant struggle, she passed away on May 14, 1997.

In her last years, Betty Turner became a fan of Irish singer Van Morrison, her favorite song being Into The Mystic. Beneath all of the partying, Betty was a very sensitive person… sometimes she felt a little too deeply. Her joys may not have equaled her sorrows, but she never stopped being good too and being a good friend to those who knew her. Her impact on and importance to those around Betty is why she is so well remembered today, perhaps to a greater extent than many of her contemporaries.

Yesterday’s troubles are written in sand,
Brushed out of existence by God’s own hand

The things of the future, our own hearts may fear,
Can all be resolved when tomorrow is here…

Out of a lifetime, these hours alone
The hours of today are completely our own…

So as each Sun is setting there’s reason to say,
Thanks, Lord, for Your gifts — above all, for this day.

From your sister and very best, best, best friend

Love,
Mopp