Elizabeth Turner, 83, Who Shared Her Musical Talents With Community

At age 13, Elizabeth Taylor Child Turner won her first notable musical award - a Ladies' Musical Club scholarship in piano - for a lyrical improvisation of an apple tree in bloom.

The judges, however, wanted to be sure. She seemed so young to be so talented.

``They tested her twice, and she won twice,'' said Theodore Turner of Albuquerque, N.M., Mrs. Turner's oldest son.

For three-quarters of a century, music was a central part of Mrs. Turner's life. She shared that love with her family and others.

Mrs. Turner, a concert pianist and teacher prominent in Seattle musical circles, died Feb. 3 after an illness of several months. She was 83.

After winning the Ladies' Musical Club scholarship, the Seattle-born pianist became a student of Boyd Wells, a noted musician and dean of Seattle's Cornish School of Music.

Before she married in 1931 in Seattle, she studied piano in New York City on a scholarship with Sigismond Stojowski, a noted Polish pianist.

Mrs. Turner was the wife of retired King County Superior Court Judge Theodore S. Turner of Mercer Island, himself an accomplished violinist and violist.

The Turner household was always filled with music, said her son, Theodore. ``There was music from the time I can remember. My mother and father played sonatas in the house.''

The couple's four offspring became instrumentalists, and music became a family affair.

Mrs. Turner was on the music faculty at Helen Bush School in the 1940s and '50s. She performed locally as a soloist and accompanist in chamber groups, with Thalia, a local music organization, and with the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra.

Up until three months ago, she continued to give private piano lessons, said a niece, Elizabeth Engle of Edmonds. ``She had some beginners and some advanced students, as well,'' Engle said.

Mrs. Turner was a 50-year member of the Ladies' Musical Club, and a member of Mu Phi Epsilon musical honorary, Thalia, the Seattle Musical Art Society and University Congregational Church.

She and her husband also shared a love for mountain climbing and hiking, said her niece. ``She went mountain climbing on her honeymoon,'' the niece said.

Besides her husband and her son, Theodore, Mrs. Turner is survived by another son, Robert of Woodstock, N.Y., and daughters, Elsie Apthorp of Casselberry, Fla., and Helen Turner of Seattle; 10 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. A memorial service was held Saturday.

The family suggests remembrances to the Ladies' Musical Club scholarship endowment fund, P.O. Box 1920, Seattle, 98109.