Geills Turner

Geills Turner ( Kilgour; born December 23, 1937) is a Canadian businesswoman and the widow of John Turner, the 17th Prime Minister of Canada. Her first name is pronounced like "Jill". Early life and work Turner, the eldest of three children, was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is the grand-niece of John McCrae, author of the poem In Flanders Fields, and the sister of long time Alberta member of Parliament David Kilgour. Her father was David Kilgour, Sr., who was the chief executive officer of Great West Life Assurance Company. Turner grew up in a wealthy family. She excelled in science and mathematics, and graduated from McGill University with a degree in math and physics. She enrolled in the post-graduate business administration course at Harvard Business School. After graduating from Harvard, she left the United States since investment firms in New York City were not interested in hiring a woman. Turner moved to Montreal to work for IBM. Author Gordon Donaldson called her an "upper-crust pretty [girl]". She met John Turner when she was a campaign worker for his first election campaign and she "brought computers into Turner's campaign." They married in 1963 and have three children: Elizabeth (born 1964), Michael (born 1965), David (born 1968, died 2021), and James Andrew (born 1972). Spouse of the prime minister Her husband served as prime minister of Canada from June 30 to September 17, 1984.