Geills Turner

Geills McCrae Kilgour Turner (first name pronounced "Jill") Gordon Donaldson, "The Prime Ministers of Canada", (Toronto: Doubleday Canada Limited, 1997), p. 306.] (born December 23, 1937 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is the wife of John Napier Turner, a former Prime Minister of Canada. They have four children: one daughter and three sons.

Geills Turner is the great-niece of John McCrae, author of the poem "In Flanders Fields", and the sister of long time Alberta Member of Parliament David Kilgour. She went to Harvard Business School and was employed at IBM. Author Gordon Donaldson called her an "upper-crust pretty [girl] ."

Jill Kilgour's contribution to Turner's political life included being a "campaign worker" for him in the Canadian federal election of 1962, and she "brought computers into Turner's campaign."

Besides this, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation states that "She was not keen to subsume her personality to further her husband’s goals, and for the most part stayed out of the spotlight." She also did not like they way she was portrayed in the press and therefore tried to stay away from it. [CBC.ca, " [http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes2004/leadersparties/leaders/family_turner.html Leaders: Geills Turner] ," URL accessed 22 December 2006.] In 2001, Mrs. Turner made news when she crashed her minivan and was charged for careless driving. She claimed that she had momentarily stopped driving responsibly to save her dog. ["Former PM's wife chooses dog over car," "Alaska Highway News". Fort St. John, B.C.: July 27, 2001. pg. A.2.]

See also

* Spouses of the Prime Ministers of Canada.

References