She is a former Mercer County freeholder and freeholder vice president. She also served on the Lawrence Township Zoning Board, Mercer County Improvement Authority, and New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

The senator retired from Rider University in Lawrence after 44 years of service. Senator Turner serves on the Governor's Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect, the State Council for Adult Literacy Education Services, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Commission. She is a commissioner of the Education Commission of the States and serves on the organization's steering and finance committees.

She received a bachelor's degree in education from Trenton State College and a master's in guidance and counseling from Rider University. She has earned doctoral credits in education at Rutgers University.

Senator Turner and her husband, Donald, have two children, Jacqueline and Chet, and five grandchildren- Deron, Briana, Bryson, Faith and Chandler.