Although Haddonfield native Robert Turner has spent most of his life helping others, he never fathomed he would be Citizen of the Year.
Although Haddonfield native Robert Turner has spent most of his life helping others, he never fathomed he would be Citizen of the Year, an award reserved for a citizen who has profoundly and positively impacted their community by helping others.
“It was kind of a surprise to me because I figured I do what everyone else does, you know? I don’t think there’s anything extraordinary about what I did. I had the time to do things … so I did them,” Turner said.
Turner’s accomplishments include winning Teacher of the Year in 1996 while teaching in Winslow Township School District and The Melvin Jones Award, bestowed upon a citizen who lives their life in a charitable way, abiding by the values of the Haddonfield Lions Club, not once, but three times. Turner has been a Haddonfield Lions Club president, and his current position entails helping as the club’s secretary.
Having taught at Edgewood Regional High School for 36 years, he managed to balance teaching and his involvement with the Lions Club, an organization geared toward helping the blind and visually-impaired in addition to the community, part-time until retiring in 2001, when he could devote more time to the club.
“I participated in what I could participate in. It wasn’t until I retired that I really started to do a lot more things with the Lions that I couldn’t do before,” Turner said.
Turner is also involved in the Haddonfield Celebrations Committee, helping during major events in town, including the Fourth of July fireworks celebration, Halloween parade and Christmas parade.
Haddonfield residents may be aware of Turner’s accomplishments, but there’s much more than what meets the eye. Growing up an only child, Turner lived in his childhood home, originally owned by his grandmother, with his parents on Washington Avenue by the railroad tracks. He eventually moved to Friends Avenue where he lived until his college years.
As a graduate of Trenton State College, now known as The College of New Jersey, Turner wanted to become a teacher, earning a bachelor’s degree in industrial arts. During this time, Turner faced one of the most difficult moments in his life. Two months shy of his college graduation, his father, Pat Turner, passed away at the age of 48.
“We did a lot together,” Turner said.
Turner has inspired many people in Haddonfield and surrounding communities. However, his role model and inspiration had always been his father. Some of his most fond memories with his dad were building a house together at the northern end of Long Island Beach on the Shore during his adolescence.
Rob Day, a friend of Turner who grew up with him on Friends Avenue, remembers Turner visiting his family every Sunday. When Day’s father, Bill Day, who sponsored Turner when he first became a Lion, passed away, Turner stepped in to help the family. Stopping by on an as-needed basis, Turner helped Day’s mother, whether it was cutting the grass for her or shoveling the sidewalk when Rob was unable to.
‘’He’s depenednable, he’s always friendly and willing to do anything for you,’’ Day said.
“It’s not surprising he won.”
When he isn’t helping others, Turner can be found operating his collection of model trains, which is not only his favorite pastime, but his passion. As a child, Turner recalled watching the trains pass on the railroad across the street from his home on Washington Avenue, which grew his fascination with the locomotives.
His first cousin, Nancy McClelland, as a young girl, would visit Turner, admiring the “enormous train village” in the attic where she would go to watch the trains circle around the track.
“That was always a fond memory,’’ McClelland said. “I still want to go up to the attic when I visit.’’
For train enthusiast Turner, winning Citizen of the Year is just another stop along the tracks of his journey toward doing good.
