Rose Garden Village: One Man’s Vision for the Elderly

A man’s dream can develop into a fantastic reality. Such was the case with the dream of the Rev. Albert Turner.  Albert Turner moved to Riverside after California Baptist College (now University) relocated to Riverside in 1955 from El Monte.  He became the director of public relations for the college but was also placed in charge of a group of senior citizens the college cared for. California Baptist College had purchased the former home of the Neighbors of Woodcraft, a fraternal organization that provided life insurance and a facility to care for its members. When the fraternal organization relocated to Oregon, a few residents remained and were still in residence when the college took over.

From this assignment to minister to these elderly residents came a dream that was fulfilled in the building of the Rose Garden Village. Turner once told his wife, “What these older people need is an inexpensive, homey, safe, attractive place to live – better than rooms where they feel unwanted, cooped up, and institutionalized.”

Bert Turner understood how to reach out and utilize the help of important people and sources. The project became the first to use the newly enacted Federal Housing Administration insurance program, signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.  Seven acres of property was purchased on Adams Street near California Baptist College. 

Lorraine Small, a longtime columnist for the Press-Enterprise, suggested the name of the village when she learned that Turner loved roses. She also named the first few buildings for her favorite rose varieties. Turner used the services of local rose experts to choose the best varieties for the complex. Rosarian Zelda Lloyd of the Riverside Rose Society helped choose and plant roses. Expert rose hybridizer Robert Lindquist of Hemet donated 300 hybrid tea roses. His “Frank Miller Roses” were planted around the different residences.  

On Saturday, May 18, 1961, Turner broke ground for the senior citizen housing on Adams Street consisting of one-story apartment buildings at an estimated cost of $1,500,000. The Rev. and Mrs. Turner were good friends with Marion Miller, the widow of Mission Inn founder Frank A. Miller.  Turner declared that the project was a memorial to Frank Miller.  Mrs. Miller was present to help with the groundbreaking. Isabella Hutchings Mull, the granddaughter of Frank Miller, was invited to be the featured soloist. Assisting Mrs. Miller with the groundbreaking was a prominent special guest, Mrs. Hannah Nixon, mother of former vice-president and future President Richard Nixon. Mrs. Nixon traveled from her Whittier home to participate in this momentous event.  The celebration started at the Mission Inn with a motorcade proceeding down Magnolia Avenue to the site. 

About fourteen months later, on Monday, May 14, 1962, another member of the Nixon family was in Riverside for the next ceremony at Rose Garden Village. Richard M. Nixon, former vice-president, future president, and, at the time, candidate for governor of California, officiated at the unveiling and dedication of the memorial chapel stone. Mrs. Marion Clark Miller also participated, as she had done at the groundbreaking. The following Saturday, May 19, marked the formal opening of the apartment-type homes for senior citizens. Rev. Turner, founder, director, and pastor of Rose Gardens, acted as master of ceremonies.  Mrs. Marion Miller donated some furniture and other items from the Mission Inn to help furnish the new village buildings.

The cross and campanile in the chapel tower were made by Hunter Engineering Company of Riverside and placed there by Joseph Hunter in memory of his father. 

The third member of the Nixon family came to Riverside and participated in a ceremony at Rose Garden Village in September 1972. Continuing the family tradition, Pat Nixon, wife of Richard Nixon, on September 21, 1972, dedicated the cornerstone for an addition to the Rose Garden complex. The new addition added 100 units to the existing 121 units. The planned addition was named after Hannah Nixon, who participated in the original groundbreaking. In her remarks, Mrs. Pat Nixon mentioned that she had many pleasant memories of Riverside as she and her husband were married at the Mission Inn in 1940. Mayor Ben Lewis presented Mrs. Nixon with a key to the city. Another speaker was Janet Goeske, chairperson for the Nixon campaign in Riverside County.

Over the years, Bert Turner continued to expand and make improvements. In September 1982, he completed a special project, a replica of Big Ben, the English bell tower.  The tower measures 65 feet high and has four clock faces. A few years later, he installed a synchronized system that played recorded music of the Westminster Chimes.

Rev. Bert Turner died on March 2, 1987, after a car accident along Victoria Avenue. He was returning home after visiting an elderly person. The man who saw his dream come to pass left a legacy for senior citizens. In an editorial following his death, the writer said about Truner that Rose Garden Village was a monument to “his gumption, his stick-it-to-iveness, his tremendous determination to make his idea come true.”   

In 2005, the Turner Foundation, set up after his death, sold the Riverside properties to California Baptist University and relocated to Santa Barbara. As with the original campus purchase from the Neighbors of Woodcraft, California Baptist University allowed residents to remain in their apartments, with the last ones leaving by 2010.  After four decades, the village apartments were converted from senior use to the use of young people pursuing an education for their future. Yet the history of the Village, which has connections to the Miller and Nixon families, remains.