Rodney Dennis Taylor

Rod's First Love Letter

I love you Rod.

Will you Merry Me?

I will Merry you Rod.

Love Mary [Raines]

World War II Report

This report was written by Rod Taylor in 1973. It was given to me by his mother and my grandmother, Evelyn Botts.

World War II

Rod Taylor
5-8-73
Interviews
Score: 98

Royal Taylor - age 55

This is my uncle, he was on the burial detail in World War II. He said it was the worst thing you could imagine, they had to follow the front lines with trucks and just load the dead bodies on and [haul] the[m] to enormous grave yards. he said they were all [mutilated] and sometimes days old. He said if more people could have seen what he saw the war may have ended sooner.

He said sometimes you could go where their had been a bad battle and you had to shoot into the air to scare [off] the people stealing off the dead soldiers. They would take their boots, guns, [ammunition], and even dig the gold out of their teeth.

Loyd Adair -

This is my great uncle who went with the United States Army in the invasion of France through Germany right up to U-E Day. When he came home to the States he brought something back with him. At night when he went to sleep he would dream of the sleepless nights he had in France and Germany. He said sometime[s] he could [barely] stand the noise of shelling after months and months. He would wake up and not know [whether] he was still in Germany. They called this shell shock which took about 5 years to get over.

There are several more pages to this report located in my hard copy files. The third section is called commentary and focused on the cost of the war both in casualties and dollars. The fourth section detailed the Battle of the Coral Sea.

Graduation Card

The Senior Class of South Garland High School announces its Commencement Exercises Saturday evening, June first, Nineteen hundred seventy-four at eight o'clock, Moddy Coliseum, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas

Memories

According to Granny (Evelyn Botts), Rod died just months before his graduation in 1974. He planned to become a Veterinarian. According to his brother, Rod was on a road trip with his friends. They stopped at a relative's house along the way because it was a free place to sleep. The old house didn't have a shower. He was taking a bath when he was electrocuted by a hair dryer that fell into the tub with him.

Obituary (The Canton Herald)

Rod D. Taylor Funeral Rites Held Tuesday

The news Sunday of Rod Taylor's death saddened the hearts of the many Cantonites who had known him.

The account given to this newspaper relates that Rod and a friend were visiting in the home of the friend's grandmother in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Saturday evening, in either bathing or shampooing his hair, Rod was accidentally electrocuted when an electric styling comb fell into the water. He died at 7:30 p. m. Saturday, March 30.

The funeral [services] for Rodney Dennis Taylor, 18, of Garland, were held at 2 p. m. Tuesday, April 2, at the Coker-Mathews-Peters Chapel in Greenville. Rev. Charles Richardson, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Canton officiated. Burial was in the Farmersville Cemetery.

Rod was a senior at South Garland High School and a member of the First Baptist Church in Canton. He had lived in Canton and attended Canton schools from 1966 until mid-term of his sophomore year in Canton High School in 1972. He moved to Emory and later to Garland.

Survivors include his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joe I. Taylor of Garland; three brothers, [Removed] of Garland; grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Gore of Greenville and Mrs. Lynn Taylor of Dallas.

Pallbearers were Marty Hudson, Mike Hudson, Ricky Whitaker, Bill [rest is clipped away]

In Memory of Rod Taylor

He had desires and immense ambitions common in all. They uplifted like flaming swords, piercing the sky with a fiery yearn, burning as if a candle shivering in the wind's cold.

I never saw within his eyes, but felt the beauty as clouds gave way of a warm embrace to welcome his worthy soul to a paradise beyond.

In once a land so confusingly unpredictable, he touched many with his life. He watched yellow skies melting on the edge of the outreaching treetops, tenderly cradling his soul to a common destiny.

His ship nor departed to a garden of everlasting love, his vessel the sea of memories and smiles. He will never be forgotten to be always remembered.

By Glenn Coffman

Obituary Extractions (Greenville Herald Banner)

These are transcribed from huntnews.net. If you have original copies, please contact me.

Rodney Dennis Taylor
Born: 13 March 1956, Greenville
Died: 31 March 1974, Tulsa OK

Relatives:
Son of Evelyn Gore and Joe L. Taylor
Grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Gore, Mrs. Lynn Taylor
Brother of Rickey, Ronnie, and Rusty Taylor

Others:
Coker-Mathews-Peters Funeral Home/Chapel
Buried in Farmersville Cemetery
Member of First Baptist Church in Canton
Pallbearers: Randy Bennet, Marty Huston, Mike Huston, Gregg Page, Bill Strelke, Kim Townsend, Ron Upton, and Ricky Whitaker
Officiant: Rev. Charles Richardson