A month later, search-committee members called Turner on her office intercom to announce that they had made their selection of Metro's permanent general manager. The unanimous choice: Carmen Turner.

For the next seven years, Turner drove Metro with a steady hand, directing expansion of the rail system from 46 miles and 48 stations to 63 miles and 63 stations.

Her enthusiasm was boundless.

In 1989, the American Public Transit Association named Carmen Turner transit manager of the year, saluting her as the manager "who has done the most to advance the urban transit industry in the United States and Canada."

Carmen Turner dropped out of Howard University in the middle of her sophomore year to elope with Frederick Turner, but she never doubted that she would finish her education. "We had a beautiful future mapped out for ourselves," Frederick Turner says. "We would return to Howard, get our degrees, and pursue our lives as planned."

Carmen Turner went to work as a clerk-typist for the federal government. As she rose through the ranks, she went back to Howard for her bachelor's degree.

Turner went on to get a master's degree in public administration from American University and continued to climb the bureaucratic rungs at several federal agencies. In 1976, Secretary of Transportation William T. Coleman offered her a Grade 17 job, acting director of DOT's civil-rights office. A year later, Metro general manager Theodore Lutz lured her to Metro as chief of administration.

In 1990, Turner left Metro to become undersecretary of the Smithsonian Institution. She had just begun work there when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She died April 1992 at the age of 61.

More than 2,000 people attended a memorial service for Turner at Washington National Cathedral. Among the mourners was Janice Onque, a Metrobus driver, who delivered one of the most touching tributes to Turner: "She opened the door for District residents like me to get jobs. She was the best thing Metro ever had."