My Dad, Robert Charles Taylor, Terre Haute, IN

My dad was Robert Charles Taylor, b. 13 Feb. 1933 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His parents were Elmer Robert Taylor and Esther May Bates. He has one sister, Margery Loretta Taylor (Miles). My grandparents divorced and my dad went with Grandpa Elmer while Margery went with her mother, Grandma Esther. Grandpa Elmer remarried Norma Noland, who had 2 children, Marlene and Beverly. Grandpa Elmer adopted the 2 girls and apparently, there was some trouble because my dad got sent to military school from which he ran away at least a couple of times. I don't know what brought Grandpa Elmer and my dad to Grand Rapids, MI, but that is where my dad met my mom. She was working at an ice cream parlor and eventually became pregnant with me. Dad always told me that he thought I was probably conceived on the roof of the school building and was therefore a product of "higher education".

My parents got married due to the social pressures of the time and through the encouragement of my maternal grandparents, Lester and Gladys Brown. They did like my dad a lot though and taught him how to do upholstery. He worked in a dry cleaners but learned the upholstery trade on the side. Dad was young and troubled back then and drank too much, getting himself into trouble with the law, and so on. By the time my mom was pregnant with my brother, Jim, she'd had enough and divorced him. I was not to see or hear from him again until I was 10 years old because she didn't want him to have anything to do with me or my brother.

When I was 9 years old, I went to live with my maternal grandparents, Lester and Gladys (Sally) Brown, and they allowed my dad to get in touch with me. He came to Grandville, MI from Terre Haute, IN to visit with me and we kept in touch through letters and occasional phone calls. I went to visit him when I was around 13 and met my half-brother, Robbie, Sheila, Audrey, and I'm not sure if Bobby was born yet or not. Robbie was the product of my dad's second marriage, whose mother lived in St. Louis, MO. He was there visiting Dad at the same time I was. Dad had remarried a 3rd time to Betty Giley, who had 3 daughters by a previous marriage.

Eventually, I lived at dad's house for a short time when I was 17. Life went on and I didn't keep in touch very much until about 1992. By that time, Dad was suffering the early stages of emphasema but was still doing upholstery work out of his garage. By 1995, he was in pretty bad shape but had gotten a computer and we kept in touch daily through e-mails and chats. I enjoyed that time with him so much and got to know what a really gentle, kind-hearted person he was.

By 1997, the doctors said he probably didn't have long to live so I moved to Terre Haute, IN to be close to him. My brother, Jim, also came to Terre Haute so he could get to know his father at least a little bit too before he passed. Things didn't work out for me in Terre Haute so I left but Dad was still hanging in there pretty good and I did keep in touch with him through the computer . There towards the last, we had many discussions which I will always treasure. He passed away July 25, 2001, surrounded by family members who sang him to his final sleep with one of his favorite hymns.