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My mother grew up the daughter of sharecroppers. She had to quit school in the fifth grade to work on a farm. She married a man who died of alcoholism at an early age leaving her to raise her son alone. She later married my step-dad, John Turner, who willingly took on the responsibilities of family.

My mom worked 45 years in a Laundromat making minimum wage and still managed to put her kids through parochial school.

She never took a penny of public assistance because as she put it, she didn’t want the government raising her kids.

She knew the value of a dollar; and by that I mean, she knew the difference between just having dollars and having values.

For her, there was value in raising a family and believing she could offer something more for her children.

You could say that the Turner household was a rich home. Rich beyond our bank account. It was rich in character. Rich in ambition and drive. And rich in turning hope into action.

Because of her, I have a relentless drive to turn hope into action.
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