Obituary of Lewis Putnam Turco

Lewis Turco, aged 90, passed away on September 25 2024 in Belfast, Maine following a long illness. 

Lewis was born on May 2, 1934 in Buffalo, New York. He proudly served in the United States Navy as a yeoman seaman aboard the USS Hornet CVA-12. Lewis earned his BA at the University of Connecticut and his MA at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. A prolific author, he was best known as a scholar of formal verse, writing prose poetry under his own name and formal verse under the pseudonym Wesli Court. Along with his many poetry collections, he published novels, textbooks, non-fiction and a children’s story. When asked recently which of his works was his favorite, he said it was The Book of Forms: A Handbook of Poetics because it had made the most difference.

Over the course of his long career he founded the Poetry Center at Fenn College (now Cleveland State University) and the Program in Writing Arts at SUNY Oswego, where he taught for 30 years before retiring in 1996. His honors include the Bordighera Poetry Prize, an honorary doctorate from Ashland University, and the John Ciardi Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry. For many years before and after retirement, he ran the Mathom Bookshop on the family farm in Dresden, Maine. Everyone who knew him realized he put his language skills to good use entertaining people with his endless jokes and puns.

He will be sorely missed by his wife Jean, his daughter and son-in-law Melora and Steve Norman, his son Chris Turco, brother and sister-in-law Gene and Judi Turco and cherished grandchildren, cousins and nephews.

A brief memorial service will be held at Riposta Funeral Home in Belfast, Maine on Saturday, September 28 at 2 pm, when friends and family will share poems and memories.