Carolyn Taylor Martin

Carolyn Taylor Martin entered eternal life on April 21, 2022 at age 92. Carolyn was born and raised in East Tennessee. The daughter of a minister and schoolteacher, she was an ardent student. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from Carson-Newman College in Tennessee and a Master of Religious Education from Carver School of Missions and Social Work in Kentucky. While in school, Carolyn was involved in church missions and spent summers on the mission field in New Mexico and Texas. After graduation, she became the Assistant Dean of Women at Cumberland College in Kentucky and taught sociology and history.

Carolyn met her future husband Henry Lawrence Martin while in college, and they started dating after they ran into each other again in the library at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (adjacent to Carver School), where he was studying to be a minister. They married in 1956. Carolyn and Lawrence enjoyed a vibrant partnership in life and ministry. She was a devoted pastor’s wife and a high school English teacher. While she stopped teaching not long after son Timothy was born, she encouraged and supported Tim, daughter Lisa, and later her grandchildren in their educations. She was always available to read school papers, discuss literature, volunteer in classrooms, and support extracurricular activities.

After Lawrence became a Navy chaplain in 1967, Carolyn provided stability for the family through moves across the country and back and Lawrence’s deployments. Everywhere she lived, she served as a leader and volunteer in the community, a teacher in the churches and Navy chapels, and an encouraging friend to many. She loved to entertain and to attend to others’ wellbeing. She most recently resided at the Mayflower in Winter Park, Florida, where she enjoyed many friends, the caring staff, and her aides.

Carolyn was preceded in death by her parents Charles Judson Taylor and Elsie Maydelle Stigler Taylor; her stepmother Mary Nell Ross Taylor and brother Charles Rodgers Taylor; and her husband Henry Lawrence Martin. She is survived by sisters Sarah Catherine Taylor Combs and Mary Elizabeth Taylor Hance; brother William Judson Taylor; children Timothy Lawrence Rogers-Martin (Julie) and Lisa Martin Altland (George); and grandsons Jared, Jacob, Brian, Alexander, and Philip.

Funeral services for Carolyn will be held on Friday, May 20 at 10:30 a.m. at Winter Park Presbyterian Church, 400 South Lakemont Avenue, Winter Park, Florida. A reception will follow. Carolyn and husband Lawrence’s interment will be Friday, May 20 at 2:30 p.m. at the Cape Canaveral National Cemetery in Mims, Florida. Memorials may be made to the church of your choice, Carson-Newman University, or the Mayflower Scholarship Fund.