Obituary of Vera Matveevna Turner

Vera M. Turner “Went Home” to heaven on May 26, 2017. She was born in Belarus on June 4, 1939 just prior to the commencement of the 2nd World War. Before her third birthday, the German army invaded her village, making the entire population prisoners of war and transporting them to a forced labor concentration camp in Germany. Miraculously, before the end of the war she and her family were released from the prison camp to the care of her mother’s aunt, who was married to an influential German. The aunt protected them until the war was over. After the war, her older brother emigrated to Canada, saving enough money working in the mines to arranged for the immigration of Vera and their mother, the father having died of a lung disease acquired during the concentration camp internment. In Canada, Vera commenced developing her understated noncompetitive, but substantive personal goal setting, which characterized her life through her final chapter. On July 15, 1971, she immigrated to the United States, intending to settle in California. However, upon a short trip to Las Vegas with friends and a chance interview, she was drafted to become the Personnel Director of a large savings and loan association and remained in Las Vegas for the rest of her life. Building on her experience at the savings and loan, she became an Executive Assistant to Senior Executives and upon completion of interior design credentials became an independent interior designer and later a real estate developer with her husband. She lived a multi-talented life, quietly perfecting every aspect of the selective but substantial challenges she accepted, always graciously and without fanfare. She is survived by her daughter Susan Grabowski-Keefe and husband Clyde Turner and is sorely missed!  Private services will be held. Family and friends wishing to contribute in memory of Vera may direct them to any organization attempting to better human or animal life.