About Deon
Deon Turley is a Provo wife and mother of seven children. She has been an active volunteer in many organizations, mostly dealing with children and education. She currently serves as Family Life Commissioner for the Utah State PTA, the term for which ends in June 2010. She is concurrently serving as Legislative Vice President in the Provo Council PTA, a position she was elected to following her term as Provo Council President. She also has served as secretary to the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, which is a non-profit organization serving colleges and universities in Utah, and continues to volunteer occasionally with that organization.
Deon was raised in Ogden and worked for a short time in the Weber County Clerk's office as clerk to the County Commissioners. She attended BYU where she met and married Steve Turley in 1978. She received a Bachelors Degree in Mathematics. She and her husband lived in Massachusetts and California during the first years of their marriage.
As a full-time mother and part-time community volunteer, Deon welcomed foster children into the family, primarily newborns awaiting adoption. In addition, Deon participated heavily in the American Field Service, a foreign exchange student organization and her family opened their home to seven foreign students over the years from all over the world, some living as long as two years as part of the family.
Deon developed teaching and leadership skills at her church, in both stake and ward assignments in Primary and Relief Society auxiliaries. She currently presides over her ward Young Women's auxiliary working with teen girls.
Deon gained insights into small business ownership when she established a sewing school for children. As the business grew, she hired and trained teachers in three locations. She sold the business to employees when she and her family moved to Utah four years later.
A resident of Provo since 1995, Deon feels that community involvement is not only a duty but a joy. Often this involvement has been linked to the interests of her children. For example, when her daughter wanted to participate in a cadet squadron of the Civil Air Patrol, Deon stepped forward to become the chartering commander of the Phantom Cadet Squadron in Provo. She has also enjoyed work with the local Cub Scouts as a den leader, the Boy Scouts as a troop committee chair, and with Four-H on a Multi-media Communications/History project.
The decision to run for the State House of Representatives is another example of her willingness to step up and serve the community. She is anxious that the people of Legislative District 61 be represented, and welcomes your support in her campaign to serve them.
You have heard the saying: “Measure twice, cut once!” Similarly, I encourage you to take the opportunity to get to know your candidates. Look twice—I think you will agree that Deon Turley is your candidate for the Utah Legislature!