Keith Royal Taylor

February 10, 1930 – September 11, 2017 Chula Vista. Keith Taylor died in his sleep after a 10 year battle with Alzheimer. He was born in Atwood Indiana to Marion Ellisworth and Icie Delphia Taylor. He grew up in Beaverdam and graduated from Plymouth High School. Keith joined the Navy and became a CT. He was stationed at Adak, Okinawa, and Maine. It was while stationed in Maine that he met Bertha Abbott his wife of 64 years. They were married February 26 1953. After Maine Keith was stationed in Brazil, Puerto Rico and California. During the Cuban Missile Crisis he served on the USS Oxford. After the Oxford his final duty stations were Virgina, Panama, and the NSA. Keith rose through the ranks and retired as a LTJG.

After retiring from the navy he moved to California where he sold insurance. At the age of 50 he started running. At the age of 70 he completed his 4th marathon. When he retired from selling insurance at the age of 62 he embarked upon the next phase of his life. He became a professional comedian, author, and taught traffic school. Keith served as president for both San Diego Association for Rational Inquiry (SDARI) and U.S. Naval Cryptologic Veterans Association (NCVA).

He is survived by his wife Bertha. Children Reginald, Rebecca (Dow), Michael, Andrew, and Cynthia (McLarty). Grand Children Tamara (Wilson), Reginald Jr., Jeffrey (Dow), Melissa (deceased), Joseph, Brooke (Buckley), Olivia (McLarty), Taylor (McLarty). Great Grand Children Skylee (Wilson), Britany (Wilson), Cali (Wilson), Emma, Rlyan, Caragan (Buckley), and (Archer Buckley). Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Foundation. (https://alzfdn.org/)

Keith will be interred at the Miramar National Cemetery

Ode to Our Father

Far away in the land of cows and corn

On a bone chilling February morn

A baby boy is about to be born

Keith Royal Taylor is the name he was given

Sevastapol, Indiana was the place he was livin’

Carefree days of eating watermelon with his dog Jake

Cloud watching and dreaming of what course his life would take

He joined the Navy at age seventeen

On a journey to see places he hadn’t yet seen

Alaska was the first place he would go

Then to Maine - why all the places with snow?

Maine was the place he met Bertha and made her his wife

Then with Reggie and Beckie they went to Brazil to start a new life

In Brazil the family went from four to five then to six

The names he picked out - Pancho and Pedro - were given the nix

Michael and Andrew were the names they did choose

Mom said “Pedro and Pancho were chosen to amuse”

Puerto Rico was the next place to go

He was finally going to places without any snow

Cindy was born in that country of sun

Now there were seven - the family was done

His only sea duty was aboard the USS Oxford in 1962

They spied on Cubans and Russians as a crisis began to brew

California, Indiana, Virginia, Panama and Maryland were next on the list

Leaving behind friends that would surely be missed

Navy Retirement - it was California or bust

Into the “real world”, time to readjust

From cryptology to insurance is quite a change

But that was only the beginning of showing his range

Cryptologist, insurance salesman, comedian, speaker, columnist, published author,

President of SDARI, atheist and activist are hats that he has worn

He has received many accolades and even some scorn

But he is who he is and that’s pretty great

We can’t control people who just want to hate

At age 50 he quit smoking and started to run

He decided to run a half marathon just for fun

And at age 70 ran the last of four full marathons before he was done

He usually finished at the back of the pack

But the enthusiasm for just finishing he never did lack

Keith has more names than most people do

Here is the list we are giving to you

Sailor Taylor, Cecil Foofoofnick, Chief, Lieutenant, Mustang, Dipsey Dumpster, husband,

brother, Dad, Papa

And a few we can’t mention

Fun and humor seemed to be his intention

To Reggie, Beckie, Michael, Andy and Cindy he’s just known as Dad

He laughed at our antics even when we were bad

He taught us always to follow the Golden Rule

And on occasion it’s okay to act like a fool

He showed us stars through his coat sleeve

A face full of water is what we received

The lesson was don’t believe things that sound too good to be true

Or a face full of water could be waiting for you

He taught us to speak up when people were wrong

Not to cave in to others - state your case and stay strong

As Papa to Reggie Jr, Jeff, Tami, Melissa, Brooke, Livvi, Joe and Taylor he was pure fun

Going hiking, biking, boogie boarding, trips, trains or even a run

Great-grandchildren Skylee, Britney, Emma, Cali, Rylan, Caragan and Archer call him Papa too

The children think he’s funny no matter what he might do

Pull my finger, jump in the pool with his clothes on or bawk like a chicken laying an egg

They dissolved into laughter when Papa was pulling their leg.

Of all the different names he had

Our favorite was to call him Dad

We will miss your humor and your love most of all

For your heart was as big as you were tall.