Cary Turner

Growing up in Back Bay, Boston, Cary first came to Nantucket in the summer of 1979 after her family bought a saltbox in Dionis. She graduated from Emma Willard School, attended Skidmore College, and later returned to Nantucket after graduating from Chamberlain School of Retailing in Boston. Before she was 30 years old, she successfully raised the capital necessary to become a co-owner of The Westender Restaurant in Madaket (now Millie’s) and subsequently managed the restaurant’s finances and accounting. Her extensive retail management career includes Talbots’ flagship store in Boston, and most recently the beloved Best of the Beach on Nantucket’s Straight Wharf. Cary has also served as the Financial Secretary for the First Congregational Church and was on the board of The Samaritans on Cape Cod and The Islands for two full terms up until 2026.

Cary has been a full-time island resident since 1994 and lives with her husband Jeff, a pilot for Omni Air International, and their two island-born children, Alden and Jackson, and their Goldendoodle, Juno. Her daughter graduated with an MFA in Glass Arts at Mass Art in Boston and her son just completed his fifth season at The Great Harbor Yacht Club as an apprentice in the kitchen under Chef Nikko Fix. Cary and Jeff learned firsthand about the ins and outs of a complicated construction project on Nantucket when in 2000, they chose to save a five-bedroom antique home from demolition by moving it in pieces from Quaise to Miacomet. Toscana Construction still refers to it as one of the most complicated house moves in its 45-year history.