Marie Louise Turner was born on May 13, 1866 in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin to Franklin and Anna Zimpelman Turner. A few years later, the family moved to a farm in St. Louis, Missouri. Marie was educated in a rural school until the age of 12. She learned reading, writing, and arithmetic. After leaving school, Marie spent her time carrying out domestic duties inside the family’s home.1
In 1881, 15-year-old Marie visited her aunt in Kansas and met the group of student teachers who boarded at her aunt’s house. They attended the nearby teacher’s college. As she interacted with the students, Marie decided to pursue teaching. She enrolled at a teacher’s college in Kansas, passed the state examination, and received a six month certificate. In 1884, Marie began teaching at a rural school in Pontiac, Kansas.1
In 1889, Marie started teaching at Old Orchard Park Elementary School in the wealthy St. Louis suburb of Old Orchard Park. When Board members of the nearby Clayton School District paid a visit to the school, they noticed Marie’s gentle yet commanding presence in the classroom. In fact, they were so impressed that they wondered if she could be an effective school executive, a position rarely held by women.1
In 1891, the prestigious Clayton School Board made the socially bold move of offering 25-year-old Marie the superintendency post of the Clayton School District at a salary of $1,200 per year. Marie accepted the post and became the third female school executive in St. Louis County history.1
Despite no longer teaching, Marie remained intensely interested in news of pedagogy and curriculum advancements expounded upon at sessions of the Missouri State Teacher’s Association. She attended as many of these sessions as her schedule permitted. Marie kept open the possibility of returning to the classroom. To prevent stagnation in her teaching competency, she took summer coursework at Normal schools in Massachusetts, New York, Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri.1
In the summer of 1901 when Marie was taking coursework at the State Normal School in Kirksville, she met her future husband Henry Clay Harvey, a mathematics professor at the Normal School. Upon their marriage in August 1902, Marie left her post at Clayton and moved to Kirksville. She then took up the duties expected for the wife of a college professor: civic club work.1
Marie excelled her in new role and became the State Chairman for the Missouri Federation of Women’s Clubs Department of Legislation and Civil Service Reform. She was also a member of the executive advisory board for the Missouri Home-Makers Conference. As she went about her civic club work, Marie developed a greater awareness of the deficiencies in rural education compared to city schools such as Clayton. She contemplated how she could work to close the gap in Adair if she went back into teaching.1