Norwich family in massacre heartache

The Norwich family of Maxine Turner, 22, is coming to terms with the loss of the popular student in the Virginia shootings.

19 April 2007 10:45

A victim of the Virginia shootings was a regular visitor to Norwich where the majority of her family lives.

The Norwich-based family of student Maxine Turner, 22, have today told of their heartache after she was gunned down at her American university.

Miss Turner, a highly-talented student who was just three weeks away from graduation, was one of 33 people killed in the shooting spree by 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui on Monday.

Maxine's father Paul grew up in Norwich and met Maxine's mother, Susan Malinowski, in the city before marrying and moving to Vienna, in Virginia.

The couple met when Susan's mother Joyce was running the Gate House pub in Dereham Road, Norwich, with her partner Arthur Anderson, who was known as Andy.

Her aunt Jane Amond, 44, and grandmother Pat Turner, 74, live in Malbrook Road, in Earlham. Several other family members are also from Norwich and all are said to be “devastated” by her death.

Maxine's aunt told the Evening News: “We can't believe it has happened. She was a very lovely person, she had a brilliant future ahead of her and she's gone now.

“She was a very bright, happy, talented, intelligent person. She was going to graduate in May and had already got herself a job sorted out. She and her mother had been looking at apartments.

“But that's now gone, it's such a waste and we can't believe it.

“They were a very close family and very proud of each other.”

Maxine's grandmother Pat, 74, said the family were finding it difficult to talk about. She said: “Everybody is finding it too upsetting.”

Maxine was a regular visitor to the city, coming on holidays to see her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

She was last in Norwich in January 2006, when she came over to see her maternal grandmother who was seriously ill after having a stroke.

Maxine's father Paul, who is now a successful accountant in Washington DC, was reportedly travelling in the Middle East when he heard.

He was due back in America on Tuesday night from Jordan to join his wife, their 13-year-old son, Anthony, and Susan's father Ted, 84, in the close-knit cul-de-sac where they live.

Mr Turner, 53, told reporters that Maxine was studying chemical engineering but had taken German as an elective. She was killed while in her German class in Norris Hall.

“She was very excited - she was very excited about school in general,” her father said.

He told how Maxine had been accepted by a handful of high profile schools, including Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, but she was determined to be a “Virginia Tech Hokie”.

He said: “We tried to convince her to go elsewhere. When you get accepted to Johns Hopkins, it's a very prestigious school. But no, she wanted to go to Virginia Tech.

“It's a terrible loss. I cannot understand the legislators in this country, not putting in laws that protect people.”

While at university Maxine helped to found a chapter of Alpha Omega Epsilon, a sorority for women in engineering.

Last week she volunteered her time to show young female engineering students around Roanoke, in Virginia, showing them the potential and opportunities for women in engineering.

She was one of very few female chemical engineers and founded the sorority to ensure members had the support they needed to succeed in their male-dominated industry.

On the group's website, she wrote: “We formed this sorority as a place for females who had never had female friends, as a chance for them to meet great girls with similar interests.

“Also for anyone looking for a support group, since engineering is challenging. Lastly, as a chance to build professional skills to help girls after graduation.”

On a popular social networking site, Maxine described the job she had lined up after graduation as “awesome”.

She had planned to take some time off this summer before joining W.L. Gore & Associates, the maker of Gore-Tex, a waterproof, breathable fabric popular in outerwear, in its Maryland office.

“Not sure what I'll be doing yet, but they are AWESOME,” she wrote of her future employer on her Facebook site.

Jane Gardner, a human resources administrator at Gore who was involved with hiring Maxine, told an American newspaper: “There are students that have kind of a twinkle in their eye, and she was one of them. She was a bright young woman with a lot of potential.”

The popular student also acted as a public relations manager for the university's Tae Kwon Do club, volunteered at an animal shelter and wanted to take up dog breeding as a hobby some day, the newspaper reported.

T - Did you know Maxine and would like to pay tribute to her? Contact reporter Kim Briscoe on 01603 772419 or e-mail kim.briscoe@archant.co.uk

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