Kenneth Taylor

Kenneth Eugene Taylor (Ken), age 82, passed away Sunday, June 18, 2023 at NHC Health Care Sumner in Gallatin Tennessee. Present were his sister, Dorothy Taylor, his niece Heidi Schwarz, and his grand niece Wilhelmina Bangloy. Their home on Snug Harbor in Hendersonville, Tennessee, had been Ken's anchor since 2016 when urgent health needs brought him to Tennessee.

Ken was born in Adrian, Michigan, grew up in Davenport, lowa and attended the University of lowa in lowa City. Most of his adult years were spent in the Village of Oak Park, Illinois. Born with spina bifida, his life was a never-ending battle to best the limitations of his physical being.  Facing fierce challenges up to his final breath, his courage was monumental.

A romantic at heart, Ken had a passion for poetry with an amazing repertoire he could cite for any occasion. His extensive personal library held several hundred literature classics, as noteworthy for their exquisite leather bindings as for their content. He also painstakingly collected every single issue of Sky and Telescope, reflecting his great interest in astronomy and space. Mathematics volumes also held a favored place, and he would have smiled at his official time of death, 3:14 -the infinitude of pi.

Ken is survived by his sister, Dorothy Louise Taylor (86) and his brother, Thomas Lowell Taylor (84) of Reston, Virginia. He placed great value on family and its traditions. Blessed with many cousins, a highlight of Ken's year was the annual Kuester/Keyster cousins reunion near Peoria, Illinois. Family gatherings by the Taylors on the Wolz dairy farm near lowa City also contributed great memories.

Ken's final resting place will be in the family plot in historic Oakland Cemetery, lowa City, lowa.  His parents, Theodore F. and Hilda E. (Kuester) Taylor also lie there, as do many other relatives.  Ken loved to photograph the glowing fall colors of this cemetery as well as its stunning statuarv.

Arrangements for cremation were entrusted to Hendersonville Memory Gardens, Funeral & Cremation Center, 353 E. Main Street, Hendersonville, TN 37075.

Memories of Ken would be well expressed by donations to Compassion & Choices.