Obituary of Glenda Pittman Turner

The family of Glenda Pittman Turner regret to announce her death, of cancer, in Hospice House of Fredericton on January 14, 2025. Glenda was the daughter of farmer, Will Pittman, and his wife, Alice Pittman, of Halifax, North Carolina, as well as the sister to Michael Graham Pittman, also of Halifax. 

Born on February 1, 1943, Glenda attended elementary school in Halifax and graduated from high school in the nearby town of Weldon in 1961. During her ‘teens, she was a state-wide leader in the Methodist Youth Fellowship. Glenda then attended the University of North Carolina in Greensboro and after a study-year abroad in Lyon, France, the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. At Chapel Hill she took a Master’s Degree in the university’s prestigious Department of English, completing a thesis on poet Robert Frost. Glenda was then employed by the Garrison Forest School outside Baltimore, Maryland, teaching English.

In 1968 she married Roy Steven Turner of Weldon, North Carolina, a long-time friend and at that time a graduate student at Princeton University. In Princeton, Glenda taught English in Princeton Day School, and later held positions in publishing and data management for local firms. In 1971, Glenda and Steve moved to Fredericton, Canada, where Steve was employed in the Department of History of the University of New Brunswick. Glenda immediately found a position in the Public Relations Department of the University. There she was responsible for the University calendar, organizing graduation ceremonies, and producing recruitment and public relations material for the University.

Daughter, Laura Mary Frances Turner, was born in 1978, and in 1980, Glenda resigned her position at the University to devote more time to home-making, a skill at which she was highly accomplished and justly proud. She later devoted her literary skills to producing a book-length biography of University President and engineer, James Dineen. She applied her firm practicality and superb organizational talents to organizing the campaign to raise money for Fredericton hospital’s first CT Scanner, serving as President of the Fredericton Pony Club, and for years managing UNB’s nationally- respected Maritime Writer’s Workshop.

With all her other talents, Glenda was a farm-girl to the core, deeply attuned to the earth and the weather -- an inveterate gardener, devoted and knowledgeable bird-watcher, and stalwart of the New Brunswick Society of Naturalists. Another passion was music, she being a regular on the Fredericton concert scene. Glenda loved the Saturday showings of the Metropolitan Opera at the local theatre even more than the Toronto Raptors, which she followed avidly. But her greatest passion was for animal protection. She served on the Board of Directors of the Fredericton SPCA, and for years was constantly active with the Fredericton and provincial branches of CARMA, the feline spay-neuter-and- release program. All animals qualified for Glenda’s care and protection, but she was particularly devoted to cats. She saw to it that her home was never without several and she showered them with attention. Glenda was a person of courage, strength, and character, an individual full of love for the natural world and all the creatures dearest to her, two-legged and four-legged alike.

Glenda is survived by husband, Steve; daughter, Laura in Toronto; brother, Michael Pittman (Judy), in Halifax, North Carolina; niece, April Lynn Pittman White, and other members of the extended Pittman family.

There will be no public service, but donations in Glenda’s memory may be made to the Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals or the animal-focused charity of the donor’s choice.

Glenda’s family is immensely grateful to the many friends who supported us so warmly during her illness and at the time of her death, as well as to Dr. Ryan Pawsey, the Extra-Mural nursing staff, the doctors of the Palliative Care Group, and to the caring personnel of Hospice House. Glenda went reluctantly but gently into the Good Night, and will always be remembered by those who loved her.