Edith T. Austin

ROYAL OAK - Edith Rachael Turner Austin, 86, departed this life on Friday, Jan. 19, 2007, at Memorial Hospital in Easton.

Born March 16, 1920, in Bellevue, she was the daughter of the late William Aubrey Turner and Sarah Jane Carroll Turner.

"Aunt Eddie," "Eddie" or "Miss Eddie," was educated in the Talbot County Public Schools where she was a 1938 graduate of the old Robert Russa Moton High School in Easton.

Her entrepreneurial spirit and skills were honed as the first bookkeeper for the family's historical business (cited by such esteemed organizations as the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels and the Reginald F. Lewis African American Museum in Baltimore) of W.A. Turner and Son in Bellevue, and were continued as the manager of her late husband's auto mechanic business in Salisbury.

Upon returning to Talbot County, she completed her working career with the family business until her health waned.

She married Clinton Hayward Austin who preceded her in death. From this union a daughter, Laura Ann Austin was born.

She was a member of St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Bellevue. She was active in many ways within the church namely choir member, Sunday school teacher, Steward and more.

Mrs. Austin was Past Worthy Matron of Golden Link Chapter 40 Order of the Eastern Star of Bellevue, lifetime member of the NAACP, United Fund and Red Cross, Bellevue Homemakers Club and Talbot Senior Center. She was particularly proud of projects that enabled her to use her creative abilities where her homemaking skills were chronicled as a part of the Bellevue Homemakers Club Recipe publication.

Her last recognized outreach events were affiliated with the Bethel AME Church's educational outreach program entitled "Academically Sound and College Bound" in Cambridge.

She is survived by a daughter, Laura Ann Austin; a sibling, Leon Kenneth Turner; two sisters in-law, Charlotte Knight Turner and Bertha Turner; special lifelong friends and a number of nieces, nephews, cousins, and extended family members.

Other siblings and a sister in-law, Ruth Gale Davenport recently preceded her in death.

Services will be held at 1 p.m., on Saturday at St. Luke United Methodist Church in Bellevue with a viewing two hours prior to the services. The Rev. Dartanyon L. Hines will officiate. Burial will follow in Richard's Memorial Park. Arrangements are being handled by Henry Funeral Home, P.A., in Cambridge.