Kenneth West Taylor was born September 27, 1938, in Hamilton, Texas, to Tom and Inez (Parsons) Taylor. He was the eldest of three children.
He attended 12 years of school in Hamilton and graduated in 1957. He joined the Army for a short time in 1957/58. He joined the Dallas Fire Department in August of 1958 and attained the rank of Captain before retiring in May 1990. He joined the Brownwood Fire Department in June 1990 as Chief and retired in January 1994.
Kenneth rode and trained horses for A. E. James when he wasn’t at the fire department. He loved the cutting horses and thought that was what he was going to do full time once retired from the fire department. But God had different plans.
Kenneth was a Christian by faith and was a member of the Calvary Baptist Church in Hamilton. He served on the North American Mission Board with his wife as missionaries for 15 years and travelled across the United States spreading the gospel. He also clowned as “Jingles” with his wife “LuLu” as missionaries. They travelled to Hungary and attended the Olympics in Utah as missionaries. He never met a stranger and often times helped those in need.
After retiring, Kenneth and his wife, Stella, spent half their time in Creede, Colorado where he loved the beauty of the outdoors. He loved the mountains and learned most of their names. It was not uncommon for him to spout one out as they were driving to and from different locations. Some days he would drive around just to see if he could spot wild animals and if so, would capture the image on his camera. He loved to take pictures and hang them on his wall. He loved to fish, especially fly fishing in the lakes. He liked to golf with friends or family when he could. He liked to play games, especially dominoes. He loved ice cream and as such would travel to the San Juan Soda Shop in Lake City where he would frequent any time he could, but at least once while there in Colorado. When back in Texas, he would tend to his plants and garden. He loved to paint. He and his sister, Rita painted a mural on the side of a structure at his home depicting the outdoors of Colorado. He also painted and helped create ceramics with his wife. He was very creative and once made a full Indian head dress to honor his heritage. He served on the Hamilton ISD school board and filmed football games for the athletic department with his son, Bill. He loved spending time with his children, grand-children, and great grand-children and would often attend their band, sports or school events.
Kenneth is survived by his loving wife of 64 years, Stella (Donahoo) Taylor; son, Bill and wife Toni; daughter, Darla and husband Mike Cole; and son, Mark and wife Michele of Tomball; grand-children, Jennifer (Ty) Kirkham of Lamkin; Stephanie (Robert) Mullins of Horseshoe Bay; David Taylor of Hamilton; Michael (Abrianne) Taylor of Aransas Pass; Jessica (Cameron) Biffle of Palacios; Jeremiah (Jessica) Taylor of Carbon; Jade Taylor of Tomball; great grand-children, Lucy Cochran, Braxton and Bexley Morris, Elias Taylor, Lynlee and Emersyn Taylor, and Croix and Callie Biffle; his sisters Martha Massingill of Hamilton and Rita (Kyle) Arnold of Evant; his brother-in-law, Bo (Susan) Donahoo and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. He was preceded in death by his parents, in-laws and granddaughter, Tiffany Cole.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to North American Mission Board (namb.net) P.O. Box 116543, Atlanta, GA 30368-6543; Creede Baptist Church (creedebaptistchurch.org), P.O. Box 151, Creede, CO 81130; or Calvary Baptist Church (cbchamilton.org), 805 E. St. Hwy 22, Hamilton. TX 76531.
A memorial service will be held March 9, at 1:00 pm at Calvary Baptist Church in Hamilton with Riley Funeral home assisting.
