GRACE TAYLOR

TAYLOR, GRACE

ELIZABETH "BETTY" WOODALL, 86

Gainesville - Grace Elizabeth "Betty" Woodall Taylor, 86, longtime resident of Gainesville, died Monday, May 13, 2013 at her home, following a long illness.

Mrs. Taylor was born June 14, 1926 in Butler, New Jersey to the late Frank E. and Grace Carlyon Woodall. She earned her M.A. in Library Science from the Florida State College for Women in 1950 and then began work at the University of Florida Libraries. She transferred to the College of Law in 1956. While working as a librarian, she attended the college as a part-time law student, beginning in 1950, and graduated in 1962 with a Juris Doctor and accepted the position of Head Law Librarian. During her service to the College of Law from 1950 until 2003, she served as Director of the Legal Information Center, Clarence J. TeSelle Professsor of Law and Acting Dean of the College of Law. Professor Taylor was one of the most influential female forces on campus and one of the foremost authorities on computer-based legal research and instruction. She was considered a trail blazer and futurist as she was a major force in bringing the Law School into the computer age. She was among the first tenured female members of the law faculty, and the first female to hold an endowed Professorship at the University of Florida; she had been President of UF's Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, a member of Beta Phi Mu, Phi Delta Delta, and Florida Blue Key. Professor Taylor had received the Marian Gould Gallagher Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor in law librarianship.

In 1979 she was preceded in death by her husband of 27 years, the late Edwin S. Taylor a prominent Gainesville attorney, whom she met while in law school, and by a sister, Rosalie W. Hine.

She is survived by two daughters, Carol Taylor Franco, of Plantation, FL, and Nancy Taylor Filer, of Gainesville; brother-in-law, Kiplinger Hine, of Lusby, MD; five grandchildren, Antonio (Lorena) Crespo, Daniel (Marina) Crespo, Brittany Filer, Delano Filer, and Evan Franco, three great grandchildren, Angelique Crespo, Braiden Crespo, and Daniel Del Valle, and her 16 year old cat "Fluffy".

Funeral services will be conducted Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 2:00 P.M., in the Chapel of WILLIAMS-THOMAS FUNERAL HOME WESTAREA, 823 NW 143rd Street. The family will receive friends for one half hour prior to the services, beginning at 1:30 P.M., and there will be a reception following the service. Interment will then follow in Countryside Cemetery.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

WILLIAMS-THOMAS WESTAREA

(352) 376-7556