Sally Taylor

Sally Thorne Taylor, 85, died peacefully in her beloved home on December 7, 2023. She was born October 2, 1938, in Salt Lake City, to Lucile Markham and Harold A. Thorne, the youngest of five children. She was her grandmother's "Baby Sally" when Grandma Mary helped Lucile raise the children after a hitchhiker murdered Harold, her husband. This tragedy united the siblings with incredible strength and dedication to each other.
In June 1959, Sally married her sweetheart David Alan Taylor in the Salt Lake Temple after meeting him due to a "set-up" between their two mothers. David was asked by his mother to help at the cabin with building the fire, and Sally's mother brought her along for lunch. They raised four children together. Sally is survived by her husband Dave and children Matthew M.A. Taylor, JoLynne T. Miner, Jennifer T. Pena, and Andrew D. Taylor and their spouses Teri H. Taylor, Mark Miner, and Carlos Pena Jr. She also loved Dave's daughter Shauna Peterson and her spouse David Peterson. Thirteen grandchildren and sixteen great-grandchildren also survive her.
Sally graduated from Provo High School in May 1956, where she loved performing in the theater, including performing the lead role in The Curious Savage. She was also active in public speaking and won the I Speak for Democracy contest at school. She attended Girls State. She graduated from Brigham Young University in 1960 with a BA in Dramatic Arts and an MA in Dramatic Arts, attending on a scholarship. During those years, she produced plays and acted in them. She produced the play Bertolucci Brecht's Mother Courage with her mother Lucile acting in the lead role, and the two of them later also starred in a film called Broken Dolls.
Sally continued to study while she raised her children. She was a kind and patient mother who supported her children's interests and activities, was active in the PTA, and led by example encouraging her children to pursue education. They have all graduated with college educations and some have advanced degrees. She loved music and studied piano as a child. With that love of music, she paid for her grandchildren's musical educations.
Receiving her Ph.D. in Theater in 1975 from the University of Utah, Sally focused on Shakespeare and adored going to Cedar City to the Shakespeare Festival every summer. She accepted a position in the English Department at BYU, where she was a full professor. She taught many composition courses, especially Technical Writing, Shakespeare, Short Story, Science Fiction and Fantasy, and other courses. She served as the English Department's Associate Chair and Coordinator of Composition. She was also the faculty advisor for the Fantasy and Science Fiction group, helping them publish The Leading Edge magazine. Sally was a poet, publishing over a hundred poems in college journals nationwide, publishing a small poetry book, and winning the Chair Competition, BYU Eisteddfod, in 1984. She authored and published two editions of a freshman English textbook with Harcourt Brace called The Critical Eye and three editions of a technical writing workbook. She led a group of students in London for BYU Study Abroad for six months. She later returned to London with her son Andrew to study the War of the Roses, obtaining special permission to handle the illustrated manuscripts in the British Museum.
Sally loved the gospel and served in many different callings in the LDS Church: Relief Society President (twice), Stake Relief Society President, Primary President (twice), Gospel Doctrine teacher (twice), and Temple Ordinance Worker for 26 years. The Church asked her to produce a regional dance festival, which was a success. She served a mission with Dave in the French West Indies, French Guiana. With a love of music and a trained voice, Sally was a life-long ward choir member, singing both soprano and alto. Sally loved to serve and continued serving for several years with Project Road, where she helped teach people to read and developed enduring friendships.
Her hobbies were reading, gardening, and needlework. Sally loved to read. As a child, she read every book in the children's section of the Provo Library. She spent a lifetime reading countless fiction books and even wrote a young adult novel and a science fiction book. And she loved her garden. She won the 2009 Star Garden Award from the City of Orem's Beautification Advisory Commission and cared for her 20 fruit and nut trees, vegetables, and berries for decades. She had five gorgeous flower beds and 100 rose bushes. Sally enjoyed handiwork. When they were small, she sewed some of her children's clothing, but her passion was counted cross-stitch. She made over 26 counted cross-stitch Christmas stockings for her children, grandchildren, and siblings. She often hosted an annual neighborhood BBQ and Easter egg hunt for the neighborhood children. She loved hosting her family for a massive Christmas gift-giving/opening celebration, Thanksgiving, and a 5-Star Easter Egg hunt for her grandchildren in her ½ acre yard.
At 17 years old, Sally caught the travel bug starting with her trip to Norway with her friend Trudy. She visited much of the United States, China, Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, Canada, Thailand, Cambodia, Israel, and Ireland with her loved ones, including Dave, her siblings and their spouses, and her children. She even took some of her grandchildren on a cruise and a trip to Texas, joined by Janice and her grandchildren.
Sally is preceded in death by her parents and siblings, Mary Lou Thorne Samuelsen and James Markham Thorne, and survived by her dear sisters, Janice Thorne Dixon and Norma Joyce Thorne Michelsen.
The family would like to express their gratitude to the many people who provided care, support, companionship and friendship to Sally. They went above and beyond with true Christlike love and compassion.
Funeral services will be held December 9, 2023 at 1:00pm at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meetinghouse located at 155 West 1600 South, Orem, Utah. Interment will be at the Provo City Cemetery.