Obituary for Marie Turvey

Marie Whitehead Turvey

(August 6, 1926 – August 29, 2015)

Marie W. Turvey, formerly of Blackwell, Oklahoma, died Friday, August 28, 2015, in Houston, Texas, at the age of 89 years.

Marie W. Turvey was born on August 6, 1926, in Tonkawa, Oklahoma, to Edgar and Mary Whitehead. Marie grew up in Tonkawa graduating from Tonkawa High School. She furthered her education at Northern Oklahoma Junior College before completing her education at the University of Oklahoma. In 1949 she married Charles Robert “Bob” Turvey and they lived in Oklahoma until 1958 when they moved to Houston, Texas, with their four children. Bob’s job with Conoco Oil Company took them to London in 1963, now with six children and the family spent eleven very happy years in England, where the seventh and youngest child was born. Marie had many friends in England through her involvement with Conoco, the church and the children’s schools. In 1974 the family returned to the United States and Westport, Connecticut and then back to Houston in 1979 where Bob retired in 1985. True to form, Marie became involved in community life, volunteering at the library and supporting neighborhood activities. The adult Turvey children moved far and wife across the United States and England. Through all this time, Marie’s extraordinary talent for letter writing kept the family close. The children’s friends looked forward to Marie’s next letter as keenly as did her children.

Marie was preceded in death by her husband, Bob, in 1996; an infant daughter, Patricia, who died in 1960 at age four months; and he brother, Bud, in 2005.

Marie is survived by her seven children, Harry, Anne, Christine, Sarah, Thomas, Teresa and David; and by twelve grandchildren, Robert, Megan, Carmen, Joe, Ruth, Hannah, Justin, Jeremy, Sam, Ben, Maria and Katherine. She is also remembered with much love by many nieces and nephews, sons and daughters-in-law.

A graveside service is scheduled for 11:00 a.m., Friday, September 4th in the Blackwell Cemetery with Deacon Dick Robinson of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Ponca City officiating.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her honor to the Doctors Without Borders at www.doctorswithoutborders.org.