Joan Turner is retired and staying active through volunteering at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and on presidential campaigns. Turner has also traveled extensively, most recently to Tanzania to hike Kilimanjaro. Previously, Turner taught deaf students at the elementary, middle and high school level in the Clark County School District. She retired from teaching to serve as Executive Assistant to the First Lady of Nevada. Upon completion of the First Lady’s term, Mrs. Turner served as the Executive Director for their nonprofit Take the Time to TEACH. While teaching, Turner was a state finalist for the NASA Teacher in Space Program and a recipient of the Christa McAuliffe Fellowship. Mrs. Turner used the McAuliffe Fellowship to share her knowledge of the space shuttle program to over 100,000 hearing and deaf students. Turner attended the launch of the Discovery space shuttle carrying astronaut/teacher Barbara Morgan. She also went to the landing of the Columbia space shuttle at Edwards Air Force Base and attended the 30 year reunion of the NASA Teacher in Space finalists. Mrs. Turner produced in sign language a nationally distributed video with captions documenting her experiences with the space program. Turner also had the honor to interpret for President Clinton, President Reagan and Red Skelton at Caesar’s Palace.
1975 Minot State University, B.A.
