Over the past few years, you may have noticed a woman and her son coming into the church and sitting in the front pew for Mass on Sunday. Many of you are new to St. James, so you did not see this amazing woman in her active years. Along with caring for her husband and seven children, she was also a linguist, and an adjunct professor at Catholic University. She even ran for Congress. She and her husband Deacon John Turner was always available to help anyone with anything for over her 50 years. Father Pablo says, “Maria and John were two of the greatest parishioners at St. James.


Maria do Rosario Fonseca Turner was born April 21, 1931 in Lisbon, Portugal, the eldest of nine children. She came to the U.S . o n scholarship to Rosary College in River Forest, IL, then worked as a multi - lingual tour guide at the United Nations in New York C ity. She married John H. Turner at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC on Sept. 7, 1957, and they moved to Mt. Rainier, MD in 1965 wher e they raised seven children and were parishioners at St. James Catholic Church. She earned a B.A. degree from Trinity College an d an M.A. from the University of Maryland in French Literature. She taught at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) in Rosslyn, V A a nd at The University of Maryland, Catholic University, and Howard University. She also worked as a simultaneous interpreter for the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Defense. She loved music and theater and worked for over 40 years as an usher at the Kennedy Center. She enjoyed sharing her knowledge of culture and places, which she did as a licensed tour guide in Washington, DC.

Viewings will be at Gasch’s Funeral Home, 4739 Baltimore Ave. Hyattsville, MD on Monday, Sept. 13 from 2 - 4 and 6 - 8 pm, and at St. James Catholic Church, Mt. Rainier, MD on Tuesday, Sept. 14 from 9 - 10 am. A funeral mass will follow at 10 am, then burial at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Bladensburg Road, NE, Washington, DC. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Maria’s honor to The Malta House 4916 LaSalle Road Hyattsville, MD 20782.