Dateline: May 11, 2006

Funeral services for John M. Taylor, Jr., were conducted on Tuesday, May 9, 2006, at 10:00 a.m. in the Seagraves First Baptist Church with the Rev. Dale Dozier officiating.  Interment followed in the Gaines County Cemetery in Seagraves under the direction of Ratliff Funeral Home of Seagraves.

Mr. Taylor was born in Van Zandt County, Texas, on April 21, 1919.  His parents were John Mario Taylor and Mattie Ann Tharp. He married Bernice Elizabeth Galloway on August 17, 1941, in Franklin, Texas.  He passed away in Clarendon on May 6, 2006, at the age of 87.

Mr. Taylor had lived in Texas all his life and in Seagraves since 1937.  He was a resident of Medical Center Nursing Home in Clarendon for the last four months. He was a Baptist deacon and was employed by Colombian Carbon Company for 33 years.  He was a small plane pilot, gunsmith, and farmer.  He supported any activity in which his children were involved. He was the best Papaw on earth.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 59 years, Bernice E. Galloway Taylor, his parents, and one sister.

Survivors include two sons, James Robert Taylor of Hitchcock, Texas, and John Glidwell Taylor of Clarendon; six daughters, Martha Elizabeth Taylor and Dorthy Marie Taylor, both of Seagraves; Marian Orrell Lotman of Hallandale, Florida; Tommie Nell Gentry of Watauga, Texas; Barbara Ann Courtright of Houston; and Ruth Estelle Daniel of Plano; a sister, Nell Cook of Hobbs, New Mexico; and 17 grandchildren.