Christine Bolke Turner was a woman powered by a keen sense of justice and empathy.

"When she saw something that was not right, she didn't hesitate to fix it," said her husband, Brian Turner, chairman of the political-science department at Randolph-Macon College.

"Sometimes her empathy was expressed in political activities, sometimes by working within institutions for change, and sometimes there was somebody in need and she would reach out on an individual level."

Coming to Virginia Commonwealth University in 1994, she won a reputation as a teacher who genuinely cared about her students as people.

Dr. Turner, an associate professor of anthropology in VCU's School of World Studies, died of cancer at her Richmond home on Jan. 13. She was 53.

A remembrance gathering will be held Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Robins Room at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, 1800 Lakeside Ave.

The Denver native hailed from an environment "where you never were expected to go to college," her husband said. "She didn't become a full-time student until she was 25 years old."

Her research, which focused on rural communities in Latin America, was fueled by an interest developed as she and her husband served from 1984 to 1986 as Peace Corps volunteers in Paraguay.

Dr. Turner earned her doctorate at Tulane University in 1992.

She had been a Fulbright Scholar as well as a longtime officer of the Middle American Council of Latin American Studies and editor of its journal. She had been an editor of the group's Essays from 2003 to 2006.

"She worked intensively for the creation of the School of World Studies in 2003 and was delighted to see the anthropology program develop in this new context into an independent major," wrote Anders Linde-Laursen, coordinator of VCU's anthropology program.

A strong advocate of academic freedom, Dr. Turner was active on the VCU Faculty Senate in defending faculty rights and responsibilities, her husband said. She was a former president of the Virginia Conference of the American Association of University Professors.

She established the first Virginia Higher Education Advocacy Day at the Virginia General Assembly.

In addition to her husband, survivors include her parents, Dwaine and Charlotte Bolke of Dickinson, N.D.; a brother, Michael Bolke of West Hills, Calif.; and a sister, Teresa Bolke of Dickinson, N.D.

Although she had no children, she was the godmother of numerous children in Paraguay and the United States.