In a state filled with reds (UofU) and blues (BYU), Laurie Snow Turner is a true blue.
She was the editor of the Utah Statesman during the 1978-79 school year. That’s when she, along with Larry Baker, changed the name from Student Life to the Utah Statesman because it’s more professional.
Laurie discusses how newsrooms survived before the internet, tensions between the LDS church and USU, hunger strikes, her time in D.C., and what it’s like being in a family filled with BYU Cougars.
Laurie Snow Turner is from Springville, Utah. She was named the 1979 Robins Awards Woman of the Year for her work at the student newspaper that year. She moved to Washington, D.C. where she worked as a press intern in the office of U.S. Senator Jake Garn from Utah. Following her internship, she was offered a job as assistant press secretary. She later became the Senator’s Communications director. She also worked for Utah Freshman Congressman David Monson as a press secretary. Then she worked in the Reagan Administration in the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights and later as the communications director for President George Bush’s presidential inauguration committee. She received a master’s of writing from The Johns Hopkins University. Most recently, she worked as a volunteer for the LDS Church, as a public affairs director for the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. After 37 years, she and her husband just moved back to Utah in September to be closer to their families. They live in Highland, Utah. And in a household of a husband and two daughters who are all BYU graduates, Laurie remains a true blue Aggie.
