Deletha Davis Taylor

Mrs. Deletha Marie Davis Taylor was born on October 28, 1916 in Suntag, Mississippi. God called her home on March 5, 2012. Mrs. Taylor was the daughter of Mrs. Lee Annie Bryant of Suntag, Mississippi and sister to Mr. Ola Davis and Mr. Azell Bryant. Accepting Christ at an early age she became a member of Mount Zion Baptist Church. She attended Mount Zion Primary School which was located in her rural community, and Alexander High School in Brookhaven, Mississippi. After graduating from Alexander High School, Mrs. Taylor studied at a Negro Teachers College from which she received her teaching degree. Mrs. Taylor's first teaching assignment was at New Hope Primary School in Florence, Mississippi. As a teacher, Mrs. Taylor was active in the rural community and lived with families in the community. Encouraged to meet a young man from the community named Wilbert Lee Taylor, she found that the meeting would change her life. Miss Deletha Marie Davis and Mr. Wilbert Lee Taylor were married February 12, 1940. Although after their marriage the couple moved to Jackson, Mississippi, Mrs. Taylor continued to teach at New Hope Primary School. On December 9, 1940, they welcomed the birth of their first daughter, Wilma Marie, and on September 13, 1943, their second child, Mildred Delois. In late 1943, the young family moved to Toledo, Ohio. During the family's first years in Toledo, Mrs. Taylor was employed making military products for soldiers in World War II while her husband was employed at Willys Overland. With both working, in 1944 they were able to purchase their first house at 541 Dorr Street. The house was a duplex and with the end of World War II was filled with family members from both the Davis family and the Taylor family. For more than ten years as family members as well as friends came from the South looking for both economic opportunity and racial freedom, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor welcomed them and provided them their first home in Toledo. No one from the family was turned away even when the house was already filled with people, and for those young people who were single, Mrs. Taylor washed and ironed their clothes as well as cooked for them while also taking care of her young girls. She became the mother to the household. In 1955, after the family had moved into a single family home and her daughters were in school throughout the school day, Mrs. Taylor, who had not worked outside the home after the end of World War II, enrolled as a student at the Northwestern Ohio Practical Nurse Training Center. At that time she stated that she had always worked as a youngster and as a young woman, and she wanted to continue her work ethic. Her training was at Mercy Hospital and in 1956 she was graduated as a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN). As an LPN, she worked at St. Vincent Hospital until her retirement in 1981. With the passing of her beloved Wilbert in 1976, Mrs. Deletha Marie Davis Taylor dedicated her life to the support of her family and Third Baptist Church. She became the beloved matriarch of the family. Mrs. Deletha Marie Davis Taylor is predeceased by her husband, Mr. Wilbert Lee Taylor, and daughter, Ms. Wilma Marie Taylor. She leaves to cherish her memory daughter, Ms. Mildred D. Taylor, and granddaughter, Ms. Porsche L. Taylor; sisters-in-law, Mrs. Sadie Ravon, Mrs. Curtis Taylor, and Mrs. Lou Emma Kirkland, and many beloved cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends. Visitation will be Saturday 9 a.m. with funeral services following at 10 a.m. Third Baptist Church, Rev. Glenn Jones officiant, interment Historic Woodlawn Cemetery. www.dalefh.com

Deletha Davis Taylor

March 25, 2012