Dr. William Wilkinson Taylor passed away on January 6, after sustaining a fall at his residence. He was born February 14, 1931, in Chidester, Arkansas, to William Wilkinson Taylor, Sr. and Beulah Cline Rushing.
His father passed away in 1939 and Bill was helped by his Mother's brother, Dr. Garland Rushing, to guide him in preparing him for his formative years.
Bill was the only son and he had three sisters. He is preceded in death by his parents, his sisters Margaret and Mamie Josephine and he is survived by his other sister Catherine Ann Crawford. Bill is also survived by his wife of 50 years, Patricia McConnell Taylor. He is also survived by many nieces and nephews, who he was very close with since he was not blessed with children of his own.
In his formative years, Bill left Arkansas and attended first the boys military school Schrieners Academy in Kerrville, Texas. He left Kerrville and enrolled in The Hill boys school in Pennsylvania. He then graduated from high school from Andover in Massachusetts.
He was accepted to earn his undergraduate from Yale University. After graduating from Yale he was accepted to attend Washington University Medical School In St Louis, Mo.
Bill did his internship at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, a General Surgery residency at University of Alabama Medical Center in Birmingham and also at Greenville Hospital University of South Carolina.
Bill moved to Dallas and did his Thoracic and Cardiac Vascular Surgery Residency at Baylor University Medical Center and Parkland Hospital in Dallas.
He was certified in Surgery with American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery
He was one of the Chief Residents in Thoracic Surgery at Parkland when Kennedy was assassinated.
Bill began his practice at St. Paul Hospital and was on their staff for 46 years. In his early years of practice, he was also on the staffs of Brookhaven Hospital, where he served as Chief of Staff at one time.
During the early years of the Vietnam conflict, since he had not served in the military, he joined with an organization of private physicians who volunteered to go to Vietnam to help with the casualties of war, whether the wounded be our military or even the enemy. He lived in a Green Beret Camp in the Mekong Delta. He recalled operating on men standing in water up to his ankles.
Bill was a very dedicated physician and thoroughly enjoyed his chosen profession. After his return he and his wife took many wonderful trips through the world. He and his wife were original members of Bent Trée Country Club and he enjoyed eating and visiting with friends and staff in his retirement years.
Instead of flowers, donations may be made to Washington University Medical School, 660 S. Euclid Ave., St. Louis, MO, 63110-1010, or to University of Texas Southwest Medical School, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, 75390
There will be a memorial service at Sparkman-Hillcrest on Northwest Highway on February 14, his birthday, at 3pm.
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