Mary Turkington, former chair of the Kansas Turnpike Authority and a key player in Kansas transportation policy for more than a half century, died Thursday. She was 93.
Known as the “First Lady of Trucking,” Turkington spent 50 years working for the Kansas Motor Carriers Association, including 29 as executive director.
After retiring from the motor carriers association in 1997, Turkington was appointed by former Gov. Bill Graves to the Kansas Turnpike Authority.
She was elected chair of the authority in October 2000 and was reappointed to the authority by former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in 2005 and again by former Gov. Mark Parkinson in 2009.
She also was a founding member of Kansas Economic Lifelines, an organization that advocates for transportation funding.
In 1998, Graves appointed Turkington chair of the Transportation 2000 Committee – a group that spent six months logging an inventory of state transportation needs.
Here’s a profile of Turkington from 2014 in TK Business Magazine.
Also, here’s a video Turkington taped with the Turnpike Authority a year ago reflecting on her career in transportation.
She leaves a departing message about the importance of funding infrastructure.
