Dorris Phay Taylor

Dorris Taylor was born in 1933 in Tennessee. She attended the Knoxville General Hospital School of Nursing, graduating first in her class as a registered nurse. She enlisted in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, serving as an army nurse ministering to U.N. peace-keeping forces in post-war Korea. It was while she was in Korea that she met her husband, James O. Taylor. As an Army wife, she lived with her family and worked as a nurse in Oklahoma, Germany, Texas, Montana, California, Kansas, New York, Korea, and Virginia. Following the death of her husband in 1975, she began working as a psychiatric nurse, becoming a certified psychiatric nurse and certified therapist. While working full-time as a psychiatric nursing supervisor at an acute care psychiatric hospital, she returned to college, earning a bachelor’s degree from St. Joseph’s College and a master’s degree from Virginia Tech. At the age of 58, she became a case manager for the City of Alexandria working with clients dually diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and a psychiatric illness. Always a champion of the less fortunate, she was tremendously devoted and successful in her work as a case manager. So much so that in 1995, the Mayor of Alexandria awarded her the Flora Krause Casey humanitarian award for her efforts to embetter the lives of others. She retired from the City of Alexandria at the age of 68 to spend more time with her youngest granddaughter. In recent years, Dorris shared short stories, poems and songs at South County Adult Day Care Center and her own retirement community as a way to bring joy to the lives of others. Dorris leaves behind her daughter, Lynn (Douglas Scheidt), son, Cyrus (Elizabeth) and beloved grandchildren, Cyrus, Catherine, and Olivia. For friends wishing to make a charitable donation in memory of Dorris, her family suggests Catholic Charities, a charitable organization that Dorris supported. The funeral service will be held at the Fort Myer Old Post Chapel on Friday, October 19, 2018 at 11:00 AM with burial to follow immediately at Arlington National Cemetery.