Ada Birdsall Turner Kurtz (January 2, 1878 – January 3, 1947) was an English-born American singer and voice teacher from Philadelphia. She entertained American troops in France and Belgium during World War I, earning the nickname "The Sunshine Lady."
Early life and education Turner was born in Stanningley, Yorkshire, the daughter of Jotham Harrison Turner and Mary Hannah Birdsall Turner. She moved to Philadelphia as a young child.Birthplace and father's name confirmed in passport applications dated August 14, 1918 and July 14, 1924, via Ancestry.
Career Kurtz was a concert soloist and voice teacher in Philadelphia and New York."Ada Turner Kurtz Moves Philadelphia Studio" Musical America 44(September 18, 1926): 27. Kurtz was head of the vocal department at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music.Conservatory of Music" (advertisement), Philadelphia Orchestra concert programs, 1917-1918. In 1911, Kurtz sang a YMCA event in Atlantic City. Later that year, she was aboard a hot air balloon, attempting to achieve a women's distance record, when it was tugged by boat up the Delaware River.
During World War I, Kurtz spent a year in France and Belgium with the YMCA, entertaining American troops and acting as an informal chaplain, billed as "the Sunshine Lady". "Probably no woman in France is better known to the soldiers than Mrs. Ada Turner Kurtz," reported Musical America in early 1919. She taught at a summer training school for church song leaders in Indiana in 1920 and 1921."Ministerial Summer School" New Era Magazine 26(February 1920): 86."Bigger and Better" Herald of Gospel Liberty 113(April 7, 1921): 334. She gave a concert in Indiana in 1922. She taught voice students and gave performances at her own studio in Los Angeles in the 1930s.
Kurtz's students included Kathryn Meisle"Winners in National Musical Contest" Musical Courier 71(July 7, 1915): 26."Miss Kathryn Meisle, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania" The Musical Monitor 4(10)(June 1915): 421. and gospel singer Homer Rodeheaver. Personal life Ada Turner married American manufacturer Frederick Gross Kurtz in 1900; they had sons Robert and Allen, and they divorced in the 1910s. She died in 1947, in Los Angeles, at the age of 69.Ada Turner Kurtz in the 1910 U.S. Census, and Ada Kurtz in the California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997; via Ancestry. References