It’s a tragic story. In 1985, Gwendolyn Ann Turnbough set out for what should have been a typical day, leaving her home and heading to work. She had already left an abusive marriage, and her statements detailing the danger she faced were on file with the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office.
On the morning of June 5, 1985, newly released from jail, Turnbough’s ex-husband shot her twice as her 11-year-old son watched. The murder took place on Memorial Drive, a well‑known street that stretches through Fulton and DeKalb counties. The thoroughfare is also in the title of a lyrical memoir from Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and college professor Natasha Trethewey, “Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir.” Trethewey is the daughter from Turnbough’s previous marriage to Eric Trethewey, and she was 19 years old at the time of her mother’s death.
Recalling the horrific details about Gwendolyn Turnbough, “she is the reason we’re here today,” said Jean Douglass, CEO of the DeKalb County–based Women’s Resource Center to End Domestic Violence, in an interview with “Closer Look” host Rose Scott.
“Gwendolyn lost her life on June 5, 1985, on Memorial Drive, and she had done what everyone says a victim of domestic violence should do, which is leave. She left. She filed for divorce. She filed charges. He had served time in prison, and as soon as he got out, he came right back looking for her again. He found her that morning as she was preparing to go to work and took her life in front of her 11-year-old son,” Douglass said.
Gwendolyn’s killing led to the formation of a task force and a $10,000 grant that launched the Women’s Resource Center. Now, as the organization marks its 40th year, the milestone also comes with a new name: In Safe Company.
