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| Elmer Taylor |
Today I went to the Elba funeral home for visitation for the older brother of Annette Taylor Farris, one of my school classmates. James Elmer Taylor, age 89, passed away at his home in Auburn where he and his wife Grace moved a couple of years ago to be near one of their daughters. Elmer was school principal at Elba a few years after I graduated.
He was one of 3 sons of Pine Bell and Bonnie Taylor. The others are deceased. All of 7 girls are still living and came from all over the U.S. to be here for the funeral.
Here's what I remember about them: Annette was my age and we were classmates all through school. She and I were co-valedictorians when we graduated from Elba High School in 1952. I remember spending the night with her in their big white house just west of Elba (near where the new school is now located). We had fun flying down the big, pinestraw--covered hill behind their house on cardboard or wooden barrel boards. (I don't know what held the barrel boards together.) Annette's father drove a school bus, picking up students on the way to Curtis, and then bringing the older students back to Elba High School. Her mother was our lunchroom cook. I remember the delicious peach cobblers (pies) she would cook.
Annette's sister Mary Jean, just older than she, joined the Elba High School band while still a student a Curtis. She brought her trombone to school and we were all so excited to see a band instrument up close. We were even more impressed when she put the big instrument up to her lips and made sounds come out of it!! I could hardly wait to join the band someday.
Annette lives in Jonesboro, Arkansas and Jean resides in Claremont, CA. Cupidean was next and she lives in Enterprise. I remember Frances, who had red hair like mine, and who taught the 3rd grade one year at Curtis. My sister Christine was in her class. I think she only taught one year and then went back to Troy to get her degree. I remember that Chris really liked being in her class. Frances has lived in Pensacola, FL for a long time. She was at the funeral home today, recovering from a knee operation. I was pleased that she remembered me and also asked about my sister. That was in the late 1940's! Annie Laurie, another sister retired back to Elba a few years ago and lives near us. I see her often. Her daughter Judy was not much younger than Annette, and often came to school with Annette before she was old enough to go to school. I think maybe Annie Laurie was living with her parents at that time and that her husband was overseas (WWII). Today I saw Oleane and we talked about when she and my mother's sister, Nellie Faye, left Elba in the 1940's to go to work in Washington, DC during the war. They both met their husbands there and never came back south to live. There was another sister Lucille and I didn't see her today. I think she is still living and at a retirement center at Spanish Fort, FL.
I didn't know this until recently when Aunt Ida told me, that my Mama and Papa Smith lived in the same big white house and operated a dairy there before the Taylors moved there to live. Mother never told me this.
It's sad that you have an occasion like this to bring people back together. I've only seen Annette probably once or twice in 55 years. I wish we could have had more time together today but there were lots of people waiting to speak to the family at the funeral home so I came back home after a brief visit with the Taylor girls.
I'm happy that I got to visit with Elmer and Grace Taylor many times in the last few years. He was a classmate of my Aunt Ida's. They had lots of Curtis class reunions and sometimes Aunt Ida invited me to attend. When I called to tell her about Elmer's passing, she said she thinks she is one of two surviving classmates, at age 89. The other classmate is in a nursing home in FL. Aunt Ida lives alone in her home in Brewton and we visit on the telephone every Sat. morning.
A few years ago the Taylor family was honored at a Curtis School Reunion.
He was one of 3 sons of Pine Bell and Bonnie Taylor. The others are deceased. All of 7 girls are still living and came from all over the U.S. to be here for the funeral.
Here's what I remember about them: Annette was my age and we were classmates all through school. She and I were co-valedictorians when we graduated from Elba High School in 1952. I remember spending the night with her in their big white house just west of Elba (near where the new school is now located). We had fun flying down the big, pinestraw--covered hill behind their house on cardboard or wooden barrel boards. (I don't know what held the barrel boards together.) Annette's father drove a school bus, picking up students on the way to Curtis, and then bringing the older students back to Elba High School. Her mother was our lunchroom cook. I remember the delicious peach cobblers (pies) she would cook.
Annette's sister Mary Jean, just older than she, joined the Elba High School band while still a student a Curtis. She brought her trombone to school and we were all so excited to see a band instrument up close. We were even more impressed when she put the big instrument up to her lips and made sounds come out of it!! I could hardly wait to join the band someday.
Annette lives in Jonesboro, Arkansas and Jean resides in Claremont, CA. Cupidean was next and she lives in Enterprise. I remember Frances, who had red hair like mine, and who taught the 3rd grade one year at Curtis. My sister Christine was in her class. I think she only taught one year and then went back to Troy to get her degree. I remember that Chris really liked being in her class. Frances has lived in Pensacola, FL for a long time. She was at the funeral home today, recovering from a knee operation. I was pleased that she remembered me and also asked about my sister. That was in the late 1940's! Annie Laurie, another sister retired back to Elba a few years ago and lives near us. I see her often. Her daughter Judy was not much younger than Annette, and often came to school with Annette before she was old enough to go to school. I think maybe Annie Laurie was living with her parents at that time and that her husband was overseas (WWII). Today I saw Oleane and we talked about when she and my mother's sister, Nellie Faye, left Elba in the 1940's to go to work in Washington, DC during the war. They both met their husbands there and never came back south to live. There was another sister Lucille and I didn't see her today. I think she is still living and at a retirement center at Spanish Fort, FL.
I didn't know this until recently when Aunt Ida told me, that my Mama and Papa Smith lived in the same big white house and operated a dairy there before the Taylors moved there to live. Mother never told me this.
It's sad that you have an occasion like this to bring people back together. I've only seen Annette probably once or twice in 55 years. I wish we could have had more time together today but there were lots of people waiting to speak to the family at the funeral home so I came back home after a brief visit with the Taylor girls.
I'm happy that I got to visit with Elmer and Grace Taylor many times in the last few years. He was a classmate of my Aunt Ida's. They had lots of Curtis class reunions and sometimes Aunt Ida invited me to attend. When I called to tell her about Elmer's passing, she said she thinks she is one of two surviving classmates, at age 89. The other classmate is in a nursing home in FL. Aunt Ida lives alone in her home in Brewton and we visit on the telephone every Sat. morning.
A few years ago the Taylor family was honored at a Curtis School Reunion.
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