George White Turner – Architect, photographer, historic preservationist, husband, father, brother, friend and lover of the great outdoors – died at home on October 13 ^th 2019, surrounded by his loving family.

Born in New York City in 1952, George grew up in Fairfield, CT and first discovered his affinity and love for Vermont through weekend trips to the family house in Plymouth. An intellectual with a hunger for snow-covered mountains, George headed north where he graduated from Mount Hermon School before moving on to Hampshire College. Along the way, he discovered his interest in architecture, which resulted in a move west and completion of his studies at the University of Oregon. There he met Jodi Bauernschmidt who became his bride of 43 years. After their daughter Finnie was born in Eugene, the family packed up their VW Squareback and headed back east to settle in Vermont.

George began his architectural career with the firm Fleck & Lewis before spending over two formative decades at Banwell, White, Arnold, Hemberger & Partners in Hanover, NH, as a draftsman and designer and ultimately as a partner. In 2006, George founded his own studio, River Town Design. Over the last decade, he was a proud contributor to and member of the ArtisTree Community Arts family in South Pomfret, Vermont, where he designed modern gallery and performance spaces which honor the historic buildings in which they sit. For George, this project represented the culmination of his life's work, allowing him to weave together his skill in strategic planning, design, and architecture with his passion for preservation, community, and culture.

Lifelong friend and his best man, artist David Rich, captured George's essence when he described him as "a deep rooted person of place, with a strong sense of history, injustice and justice. His geography built solidly from geology. An architect with an abiding love for people's everyday vernacular use of space as place."

A natural with the camera, George had a refined photographic eye—he created many images and books of photographs over the years, archiving all of his family memories. He was well read, loved many genres of music, mountain biking, sailing, and lived for telemark skiing in the backcountry of New England. His appetite for powder turns took him and his fellow adventurers around the world - through the vast snowfields of the Gaspé in Eastern Quebec, to the French and Italian Alps, and British Columbia, but to him there was no place like his own backyard. He knew all the choice backcountry ski terrain in Vermont as well as how to wiggle around the back roads of the Green Mountain State. In recent years George had become dedicated to bicycle touring. He completed trips from Seattle to San Francisco with his son Asa, tours around the UK, Canada and Holland which finally culminated in A Year For The Big One – a year-long bicycle tour with his companion Jodi around Europe and Northern Africa. Upon returning triumphantly to their home in Vermont, George was diagnosed with terminal cancer. His choice was to keep on going – skiing and biking until the very end.

This past summer he organized his final bicycle tour around the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, sailed the vessel Wisper on Lake Champlain, celebrated with friends at Bread and Puppet to maintain his unbroken string of thirty years of attendance, and convened several family gatherings at the Plymouth house.

Family was very important to George. He loved all of his nieces and nephews, cousins, and aunts and uncles, many of whom made trips to Vermont in his last few months to visit with him. George will live on through the rich memories of our shared experiences, the rituals developed with him over the years, and through the buildings he has created, all in his unique style.

George is survived by wife Jodi and beloved poodle Oskar; daughter Finnie Trimpi and husband Josh of Pomfret, his beloved grandkids Madelyn and Henry, who astutely dubbed him "Sassy"; his son Asa and fiancee Emily Foote of New York City; brother Roger and his wife Linda Rood of Dummerston; and brother Jonathan and his wife Joy of Roturua, NZ. He was predeceased by his parents Theodore "Ted" Smith Turner and Jane White Turner, his brother Theodore "Tim" Turner and Tim's wife Margaret McCracken of Woodstock.

A celebration of George's life will take place Saturday November 30th at Artistree in South Pomfret from 1:00-4:00. artistreevt.org

Memorial donations may be made in George's name to Preservation Trust of Vermont, 104 Church Street, Burlington, VT 05401. Condolences can be expressed in an online guestbook at www.knightfuneralhomes.com .