The easygoing Baltimore County social worker who loved baseball and movies

When Brian Turner told his young kids ‘no,’ they often knew it wouldn’t take much prodding to change his mind.

Stay up late to watch a TV show together? Play music or go to the movies? With some patience and perhaps a little begging, they knew their easygoing father would come around eventually.

“He would just look at us and maybe frown, but with a smile in his eyes,” said his son, Morgan Turner.

Brian was like that in most areas of his life — grounded and calm, but never taking life too seriously, family said. That’s how they plan to remember him now. The lifelong Baltimore resident, who spent more than 40 years as a social worker in Baltimore County, died Oct. 18 after a long illness. He was 80.

He was born July 18, 1946, and grew up with a younger brother in East Baltimore. He spent his childhood playing baseball in the street with friends, chatting on stoops with older neighbors and chasing his dog, Sparky. He sang in the glee club at Baltimore City College.

After high school, he decided to stay local at what was then Morgan State College, where he majored in psychology in pursuit of a social work career.

“He wanted to help people,” said his daughter, Nicole “Nikki” Lewis. “He just wanted to help people that couldn’t help themselves or needed assistance with helping themselves.”

Brian met his future wife, Wanda, during a class at Morgan. He worked overnight at Westinghouse at the time and often went straight to school after a shift. One day, he fell asleep during class and started snoring so loudly that Wanda kicked his chair.

That was the beginning of their love story.

He recruited her help working on a homecoming float. They found themselves alone together in the psych lab late one night, and he asked her out. On their first date, they saw “West Side Story.”

They married in 1970 at Wanda’s family church on the Eastern Shore. They often bowled together and played tennis, where, to Wanda’s chagrin, her husband almost always won. They welcomed their daughter Nikki in 1971, then had Morgan and Donya about a decade later.

Meanwhile, Brian had started his career working for the Baltimore City Department of Social Services. He soon transferred to the equivalent department in Baltimore County and later moved the family out to Randallstown. He spent 43 years as a social worker there, family said, with his longest stint supporting senior citizens. For at least a year, he also wrote and edited his work newsletter, Full Moon Follies, that he filled with jokes and puns.

But his favorite responsibilities were at home and with the kids.

He usually had a baseball game playing on the TV while he sat in his recliner. He enjoyed cheering for his girls at their softball games and coached his son’s Little League team.

“I wasn’t good, but he never actually pressured me about that,” Morgan Turner said. “It was just something that he was a little bit proud of, the couple years I was doing it.”

He made the kids breakfast every day and carted them to school and extracurriculars. Brian was a huge music fan, especially of Motown and Black-influenced rock, and always had something blasting in the car. He’d conduct the music, one hand gripping the wheel and the other waving in the air.

When not listening to music, he usually tuned into talk radio. He absorbed different viewpoints and often solicited thoughts from others, including his children and their friends, loved ones said.

“Uncle Brian talked to us like we were adults,” said longtime family friend Lynne Streeter Childress, whose sister Leslie Gray Streeter is a columnist for The Banner. “Those conversations with him were grounding.”

Brian introduced his children to the Star Trek and James Bond franchises. He and Nikki could identify every episode of Star Trek within the first few minutes. He read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, too.

Family game nights were especially memorable. Brian was always ready to play chess, backgammon or Boggle, but he was the Scrabble master.

Brian left most of the decisions up to Wanda, but he always advocated for the children when it counted most, said his youngest daughter, Donya Morgan. When she asked to live in a more expensive house off campus with friends in college, Brian convinced his wife they’d make it work.

Brian also wasn’t always the timeliest person, but even if he was running late, his family never questioned that he would show up.

“He stepped up to bat when we needed a win,” Donya Morgan said.

As his children grew older, they came to appreciate Brian’s straightforward commentary and sarcastic, sometimes unconventional sense of humor.

A couple years ago, he made a sports bet with Donya’s husband, Mike Morgan. The winner would get a celebratory beer. When Mike lost, Brian smirked as Wanda chewed out their son-in-law for trying to give him alcohol.

“He was more like ... an older friend than a parent,” Mike Morgan said.

Donya thought the story was hilarious.

Her father was “such a presence without even trying,” she said. “He’s just really good to his kids and his wife. He’s just a good guy.”

A memorial service is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Oct. 27 at the March Life Tribute Center in Randallstown.

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