George Orson Taylor, a resident of Chattanooga, Tenn., died Friday, Oct. 9, 2009, following an illness.
He was born Dec. 21, 1918 in Sandusky, Ohio, but lived most of his life in south Alabama, mostly Robertsdale and Mobile. He graduated from Robertsdale High School in 1936 and forever took pride in the fact that he was part of the football team that beat traditional rival Foley High School after a 16 year losing streak. He attended college at The Citadel and was a loyal fan of their football team all his life; an avid golfer in Mobile, winning many trophies including the prized championship of Skyline Country Club. He was a veteran of World War II, a radioman in the U.S. Navy in 1943-44. In recent years he talked a lot about his secret mission to the Panama Canal Zone during the war, because 50 years after the fact, information was declassified and he received a medal of appreciation from the government. He and his wife Margaret owned and operated George O. Taylor Company, a wholesale grocery brokerage business in Mobile for many years before they retired.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 69 years, Margaret Deaux Taylor, a native of Summerdale.
Survivors include a son, George Jeffrey (Nadene Mohr) Taylor of Chattanooga, Tenn.; daughter, Sylvia Taylor Stanford of Chattanooga; two granddaughters, Susan Lynn Taylor and Teri Taylor (Evann) Gibson of Chattanooga; one niece, Pamela Wolf Houk and her family of Little Rock, Ark., and Tulsa, Okla.
Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14 at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Robertsdale with the Rev. Jack Miller officiating. Burial will follow at Silverhill Cemetery.
The family requests memorial donations be made to St. John’s Episcopal Church Garden Fund, P.O. Box 1137, Robertsdale, AL 36567.
Arrangements are by Mack Funeral Home and Crematory, Robertsdale.
