All scans by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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These badges belonged to my father, a veteran of the United States Air Force.

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Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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The stamp on the back of the photograph indicates the date of May 4, 1964.

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This is post #1150 of ORIGINAL POEMS AND FAMILY HISTORY BLOG.

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Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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Chattooga High School, Summerville, Georgia

Scans by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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Chattooga High School, Summerville, Georgia

EUGENE STODDARD TAYLOR, JR. (1928-2012)

Eugene Stoddard Taylor Jr., 83, of Summerville, Ga., died Thursday, January 12, 2012, in the local nursing home.

A native of northwest Georgia, he was born to the late Eugene Stoddard Taylor, Sr. and the late Adeline Wright Taylor on May 22, 1928. Mr. Taylor was a member of the Presbyterian Church, served in the U.S. Marines during Korea, and was a retired attorney-at-law.

Surviving are daughter, Elizabeth Taylor Archer of Chattanooga; son, Eugene S. Taylor, III of Atlanta; granddaughter, Hannah Archer; and grandson, Jamie Archer.

Graveside service will be held Sunday, January 15, at 2 p.m. in the family lot of Summerville Cemetery with Rev. Mike Penson officiating.

The family will receive friends Sunday, January 15 at the Funeral Home from 1 p.m. until the hour of service.

Earle Rainwater Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements for Mr. Eugene Stoddard Taylor, Jr.

Source = http://www.chattanoogan.com/2012/1/13/217245/Taylor-Eugene-Stoddard-Jr.-Summerville.aspx

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Eugene Stoddard Taylor, Sr. (1890-1944) was the elder brother of my grandfather, John Dodson Taylor, Jr. (1905-1976).  Thus Eugene, Jr. (1928-2012), and my father, John Dodson Taylor, III (1943-2014), were first cousins.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

Image Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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This is an undated photograph of the John D. Taylor, Sr.-Jr., house in Summerville, Georgia.  It seems to come from the 1960s.  The car is a 1959 Mercury which my grandfather, John Dodson Taylor, Jr. (1905-1976), bought in 1962 or 1963.  The Volkswagen belonged to Eugene Stoddard Taylor, Jr. (1928-2012).  The context seems to be a family reunion.

This was the house into which my grandfather, John D. Taylor, Jr., entered the world in 1905.  My grandmother, Nell Barrett Taylor spent most her life there also.  My father and uncle grew up there, and my mother, sister, and I lived there for a time.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

Above:  My Grandmother, Nell Barrett Taylor, with My Father, 1943

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EULOGY FOR JOHN DODSON TAYLOR, III (NOVEMBER 21, 1943-OCTOBER 30, 2014)

MARTHA MCDONALD MOORE CHAPEL, MAGNOLIA MANOR, AMERICUS, GEORGIA

NOVEMBER 2, 2014

Before I departed Athens last Thursday, I posted a notice of Dad’s impending death in the Facebook group of my parish, St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church.  Many of my fellow parishioners expressed sympathy and informed me of their prayers not only for me but for my family also.  One person commented on my Facebook page that I am a “living tribute” to Dad.  That thought had not occurred to me, but may the sentiment be accurate.

Each of us carries the legacies of other people, extending back into generations immemorial.  Much of Dad’s influence is evident in me, from my bookish ways to my preference for classical music.  Most important, though, are lessons in faith and mere decency, which he taught primarily via a pattern of mundane deeds.  Among my earliest memories is one, from the late 1970s, of him preaching and mentioning the “presence of God.”  I, being a concrete thinker at the time, was confused, for I saw no wrapped packages with tags reading “To Ken from God.”  I see clearly, with the benefit of hindsight, how many presents (even some in wrapped boxes) God gave me via Dad.  The best such gifts, however, are intangible.  And they are for the benefit of others, not just myself.  Dad taught me that also.

Now he belongs to the Church Triumphant.  This being All Saints’ Sunday, a verse from “For All the Saints” is doubly appropriate:

O blest communion, fellowship divine!

We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;

Yet all are one in thee, for all are thine.

Alleluia.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 1, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF ALL SAINTS

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These were my prepared comments.  I remained close to them as I extended them.–KRT

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/12/27/the-long-goodbye/

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Image Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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I have, to the best of my knowledge, added all extant and complete sermon outlines by my great-grandfather, George Washington Barrett (1873-1956), to this weblog.  Many others did exist; this I know beyond a shadow of a doubt.  The ravages of time and human carelessness have denied many of these documents to me, one interested in family history.

Barrett, an active Minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, then the reunited Methodist Church from 1899 to 1945, was a man of his time, as I am a man of my time.  A century separated my birth from his.  One hundred years made a great deal of difference.  He was well-acclimated to old-style Southern Methodism with a Pietistic streak.  I, in contrast, seemed born to become an Episcopalian, given my penchant for ritual formality and my spiritual need for frequent Holy Eucharist.  These differences have led me to occasional fits of frustration with my great-grandfather Barrett, especially when I have typed one of his denunciations of “externals” (a frequent topic of consternation among Pietists) or playing cards, and I have not been shy about expressing myself in writing regarding such issues.

I make no excuses for such criticism.  If the fact that I have expressed an opinion different from his offends someone, so be it.  Such a person, offended by the reality of subjective differences, will experience life as a series of tizzies, I suppose.  That is not my responsibility.

I do thank my great-grandfather Barrett for doing his part in maintaining the Christian faith in my family.  This faith became part of my inheritance.  It nurtured me until I claimed it for myself.  The rituals marking that faith journey include baptism (by the hand of my father, John D. Taylor, III, at North Newington Baptist Church, Newington, Georgia, in 1979), confirmation into The Episcopal Church (at St. Anne’s, Tifton, Georgia) by Bishop Harry Shipps in 1991, reaffirmation of faith (at Trinity, Statesboro) in the presence of Bishop Henry Louttit, Jr., in 2003, and reaffirmation again (at the Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, Georgia) in the presence of Bishop J. Neil Alexander in 2008.  Although my spiritual path differs from that of my great-grandfather Barrett, it exists in large part due to him.  So he, warts and all, was a positive (even if indirect) influence on me.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 27, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF GEORGE WASHINGTON DOANE, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF NEW JERSEY

THE FEAST OF SAINTS ANTONY AND THEODOSIUS OF KIEV, FOUNDERS OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOX MONASTICISM; SAINT BARLAAM OF KIEV, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ABBOT; AND SAINT STEPHEN OF KIEV, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ABBOT AND BISHOP

THE FEAST OF THE EARLY ABBOTS OF CLUNY

THE FEAST OF JOSEPH WARRILOW, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST

Image Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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My father was in his thirties at the time.

That decade of life seemed old to me once.  Aging has a way of changing one’s perspective regarding such matters.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

Images Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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I noticed that the teacher gave most of my father’s high school biology drawings good grades.  They do look indicative of concentrated effort.

My father graduated from Summerville High School, Summerville, Georgia, in 1962.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

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