Lois R. Taunton

On January 16, 2021, there was a changing of the guard. A pillar of our family and the community, L. Ray Taunton, went to be with Our Lord in Heaven. Dad’s soul ran deep and overflowed with goodness. He was always a man for others. He was preceded in death by the love of his life, his wife of 57 years, Jacqueline Hickey Taunton, “Stack”, other family and countless friends and comrades. He is survived by his two sons, Keith and his wife, Michelle and Kevin and his wife, Janice, and his companion, Pat Wilmot, who said he is the best man she ever knew. He will live on in his two sons, six grandsons and five great grandchildren.

Born in Opelika, AL on August 2, 1934, he later attended schools in Sylacauga, graduating from Sylacauga HS. Our father then changed the trajectory of our family for generations to come by being the first Taunton to graduate college. He was a very proud Auburn Tiger, who earned his Textile Chemical Engineering Degree in 1956. “WAR EAGLE”!

Relying on an incredible work ethic, unyielding determination and the grace of God, he rose through the corporate ranks at Celanese Corp. until 1960 when he began his career at AlliedSignal, running the spinning division at the Chesterfield, VA plant. Upon dad’s retirement, the CEO of AlliedSignal, Fred Poses, said it best, “During the next 17 years he held positions of increasing responsibility within the Fibers Division including Production Manager, Plant Manager, Director of Engineering and Vice President of Technical and Manufacturing. In 1977, Ray left Fibers to become Executive Vice President of the Agricultural Chemicals Division. For the last 15 years, he has been Vice President of Operations for Engineered Materials, responsible for Engineering, Health, Safety and Environmental and Remediation, representing AlliedSignal well with other corporations and government officials. In each of his assignments, Ray has been a leader at AlliedSignal. Through the combination of his engineering knowledge, integrity and ability to inspire people, he made a tremendous contribution to the performance of our business during his career. No one has represented AlliedSignal’s values better than Ray Taunton.”

During his career, he won numerous national awards as chairman of United Way and was an Auburn University Man of the Year. He devoted his love, time, effort and energy making sure Stack was happy, “a full time job” and to be sure his family was well cared for. A Machiavellian man for the ages, he truly exemplified the American dream and what can be accomplished through honesty, character, integrity, humility and hard work. We truly believed our father could do anything, fix any problem and make us and those around him better every day. He always had something good to say and a willingness to lend a helping hand. Most of all, he was our patriarch, a dad who always listened, always helped, a memory maker, who loved our mother well and an angel to all of us.

L Ray Taunton will be buried at Evergreen Memorial Cemetery in Sylacauga, AL. In lieu of flowers and remembrances, in dad’s customary charitable way, our family requests with gratitude, donations be made to the “L. Ray and Jackie Taunton Endowment for Scholarships” at Auburn University. Checks can be made payable to Auburn University Foundation, 317 S College St, Auburn, AL 36849 or online at AuburnGiving.org/taunton.