Glenda Ricker Taylor

Glenda Kay Ricker Taylor, 86, passed away on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Dallas, Texas. Glenda was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 17, 1939. She is survived by her two daughters — Susan Leigh Taylor Rahe (Mark George Rahe, Jr.) and Jennifer Leigh Taylor (Shreyas Manu) — and three grandchildren: Katherine Aline (18), Vivian Grace (15), and John “Jack” Chapman (10). She is also survived by her cousins (who were like sisters), June Boris, Gayle Jones, and Cheryl Perkins. She was preceded in death by her husband of 54 years, Morris Chapman Taylor, and her parents, Alline Reed Ricker and Glenn Orson Ricker.

Glenda was tremendously proud to grow up and attend high school in Oak Ridge, TN — graduating in 1957. She met Morris while he was working as a co-op student at Oak Ridge National Laboratories, and they married on August 27, 1960. Glenda worked hard to support Morris as he pursued advanced degrees in nuclear physics at UCLA and later Rice University. She spoke fondly of their time together living in Los Angeles, Houston, and St. Louis.

Glenda was a true extrovert who would engage most everyone she met - introducing herself as “Glenda the good witch”. There is no denying she loved to shop — and with her passing, we sincerely hope TJ Maxx will survive. Fiercely proud of her Southern roots, Glenda embodied the resilience and sass of a true “Steel Magnolia.” Her feisty, fearless nature was matched by a bottomless well of Southern sayings, such as “fit to be tied”, “three sheets to the wind”, “worm in hot ashes”, “bull in a china closet”, “madder than a wet hen”, “not worth a hill of beans”, “uglier than homemade sin” and even more phrases that had to be Googled, such as “more [blank] than Carter’s got pills”, “drunker than Cooter Brown”, and “enough food to feed Coxey’s Army”.

Glenda adored her grandchildren and delighted in showering them with affection, treats, and surprises. She was the kind of grandmother (lovingly called “Mimi”) who showed up for every birthday and holiday, arms full of gifts. She loved establishing family traditions, and nothing made her happier than seeing her daughters continue those traditions with her grandchildren. Easter was among her favorite holidays, and she relished the annual egg hunt. As the matriarch of the family, she particularly enjoyed the honor of hiding gold and silver eggs filled with cash in places no child could find without divine intervention.

In her final moments she watched lovingly as her daughters hid the prized eggs on her behalf, seemingly passing on the torch. Her day was spent enjoying her favorite traditional Easter recipes and traditions surrounded by family — a poetic, almost scripted farewell.

We hope she is now resting peacefully with her beloved Morris. While we can’t promise we’ll fulfill her wish of being sprinkled through the aisles of TJ Maxx, we promise her legacy will live on in every southern saying uttered, every Easter egg hidden, and every moment of unapologetic resilience passed down.

Services will be held on May 3, 2025 at Riverbend Church in the Smith Family Chapel at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. In lieu of flowers, the family kindly asks that donations be made to American Diabetes Association or American Heart Association.