Bill's father, William Wellington Taylor, Sr. was born on June 2, 1898 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The first Taylor born in the new world, John Taylor was born in 1641 in Berkshire, Co. Massachusetts. Bill Sr.'s mother, Minnie Phillips Taylor was the daughter of Civil War veteran, William Beynon Phillips, who was captured at "The Battle of the Crater" and spent 8 months in a Confederate prison camp.
Bill Sr. graduated from Lafayette College in 1919 with a degree in English. Following his marriage to Alice Aten in 1920, Bill Sr. was offered a job to teach English at Harvard Military School in Los Angeles, California. His entire professional career would be spent at Harvard School where he would become head of the English Department before retiring after 35 years.
As is evidenced by the photo accompanying this profile, Bill's father had a broad sense of humor in addition to an outgoing personality. Both of these qualities were passed down to his only son.
Thanks for adding these pictures and bios on Bill's parents. I think it adds human interest to his letters and to better understand his social and political orientation.
ReplyDeleteAs the old saying goes, "the apple does not fall far from the tree." Sometimes I look in the mirror and am stunned to see my father's face staring back at me. I am now about the age of my dad when he died, so the resemblence is eerie. More significantly, I realize that my values and general way of thinking and behaving is remarkably the same as his.
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