Mr. Roger L. Taylor Sr.

Roger Lavon Taylor Sr, 77 of Austin, TX born on May 30, 1935, to Monroe Edison Taylor Sr., and Maude Estelle Fields, and was called home to be with his heavenly Father on Tuesday, November 20, 2012. He professed a love and hope for Christ at an early age, and served at the Pilgrim Rest Primitive Baptist Church until his health began to fail. Roger attended Austin Public Schools and graduated from L.C. Anderson High School Class of 1954, studied Business Administration at Austin Community College, served in the branch of the Armed Forces Military and was honorably discharged due to injury in 1958. Roger worked for various Governmental Agencies, in which he later retired from the Department of Veteran Affairs after 30 years of faithful service as Mail Supervisor. He was the founder and president of the J.J. Seabrook Neighborhood Association from the early 1970's until the time his health began to decline in the mid 2000's. Roger was an inspiration due to his success story that showed a group of divorced fathers who lost their children in court that their are happy endings. The Texas Fathers For Equal Rights (TFER), a statewide coalition of divorced fathers of, which he was the Community Action Chairman, pushed for the equalization of what they called "One-Sided Divorce Laws". Among them was the equal enforcement of Child Support Payments. TFER now has over 1200 members statewide and is open to anyone with concerns about divorce on children. With that being said, he won the custody of Roslyn and Roger jr in 1976, this was ground breaking for our city and country. In 1989, he began leading the charge of his neighborhood association to move our once known Robert Mueller Municipal Airport because of the noise level and danger it possessed. The neighborhood near Bergstrom did not want it moved there, but during this time Robert Mueller Airport was the 51st busiest airport in the country. With his man-made airplane in tow, Roger continued to lead the way until the early 2000's when the newly built Bergstrom International Airport was opened. Austin will miss Roger Taylor Sr., for his laughter, smile, and sometimes misunderstood character, but we were all the richer for having had him in our lives. He was preceded in death by: Parents - Monroe Edison Taylor Sr and Maude Estell Fields Taylor, Siblings - Vernon O. Taylor Sr., Monroe E. Taylor Jr., William Thomas (W.T.) Taylor, Jesse Allen Taylor, Lennie Mae Taylor, Ora Lee Taylor Nobles, Helen Marie Taylor, Mattie Joyce E. Taylor Perkins, Marjorie Taylor Beaty, Artie Ford, and wife Billie Jean Taylor, and daughter Blossom Taylor. He leaves to cherish in his memory his children: Roslyn Taylor Dillard- husband Andrew, and Roger Lavon Taylor Jr. - wife Carmen Ayala, all of Dallas, TX; step-daughter Renette Bledsoe - husband Horace, of Austin, TX; two grandchildren - Horace Bledsoe Jr (Candice) and Niccole Boswell, both of Houston, TX; two great-grandchildren, one sister - Julia Faye Mitchell - of Austin, TX, and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.