Allan Taylor

Allan Ross Taylor, Ph.D., born on December 24, 1931 in Palisade, Colorado, died in his home in Boulder, on Thursday, December 1, 2022. He was 90 years old. Dr. Taylor had broad interests, cultivating a worldwide community of friends and admirers across generations. In addition to his Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of California at Berkeley, he held an undergraduate degree in international studies (political science) awarded in 1953, and an MA in anthropology, earned later in life, from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Although not credentialed, he became a titan in the horticulture world, introducing many plants for garden cultivation and discovering a species of tree, which he named Pinus contorta, var. latifolia; commonly, "Taylor Sunburst pine." The CU Boulder campus hosts a grove of Sunburst pines with a plaque recognizing his discovery near the Baseline/Broadway campus intersection. Dr. Taylor's accomplishments were extensive -- too many to list -- and span from becoming an Eagle Scout as a youth to receiving an award for beautifying the CU Boulder campus. Toward that latter effort, he took up the task of determining plant species that could make a home on the campus. He educated himself on climates and latitudes similar to that of Boulder and corresponded with experts from around the globe, as far away as Argentina and the former Soviet Union. He even provided cuttings and seedlings to CU Boulder for planting. The fruits of this labor, voluntarily provided, helped to beautify and diversify the flora at the CU Boulder campus, fostering the types of landscaping one would expect at a centuries-old institution, appropriate to host exceptional scientists and researchers. Allan was active in local Boulder politics, serving on the Planning Commission and as a stalwart member of the Boulder Democratic Party, where he acted as a poll worker, canvassed during campaigns, and circulated petitions in order to bring new progressive referenda to election ballots. He was an eternal learner and intellectual, literally until his last days, with active projects in documenting native oaks of the southwest US region and researching his own genealogy. He was a true, modern day Renaissance Man. Born in 1931 into a poor sharecropper family, his rise to significance is the stuff of American legend. Encouraged by an invested high school teacher who recognized his intellect and talent for languages, he set his sights on college, which was a first for anyone in his family. Leaving home allowed him to shed his strict Evangelical Nazarene upbringing. He eventually became an avowed atheist and an outspoken critic of organized religion in general. While an undergraduate in Boulder, he met his future wife, Mary Callas, a first generation daughter of Greek immigrant parents, and coincidentally also met his later-life companion, Michiko Hester, a Japanese immigrant. Allan and Michiko were hashers at Sewell Hall at CU, while Mary was a dorm telephone operator. During Allan's undergraduate tenure he received a Fulbright scholarship to Lille, France, where he immersed himself in French culture and buttressed his knowledge of French. Upon his return he enlisted in the army and was subsequently chosen for the US army language school in Monterey, California, where he studied Russian and Chinese for the US government. From there he deployed to Heidelberg, Germany for two years. In 1967, Allan was awarded his Ph.D. in linguistics from UC Berkeley with an emphasis in Native American languages. His life's work was documenting the Algonquian "Gros Ventre" language, working with its last two native speakers. The language would otherwise be extinct. His penchant for linguistics meant lifelong fluency in many languages, including French, Greek, German, Russian, and Spanish; and with passive fluency in Italian, Japanese, Mandarin and Swedish. While serving in the army, Allan started a long-distance relationship with Mary Callas, who was studying in France. After a long courtship, they married in 1958 in a Greek Orthodox service in Denver. They made their home in Boulder, where Allan was a professor in the CU Linguistics Department until his retirement in 1997. They were blessed with five children and abundant family nearby. They were surrounded by Mary's tight knit family and lived in close proximity to Allan's parents, Athel and Marjorie Taylor. Tragically, Allan and Mary's thirty-three year marriage ended with a terminal cancer diagnosis for Mary, and Allan was widowed in 1991. Several years later, he rekindled his relationship with Michiko Hester, who had remained a peripheral family friend since college days, and the two became constant companions for the next 25 years, until his passing. All of Allan's children survive him: Artemisia Sooklaris (John), of Coronado, CA; Anthony Taylor (Mary Kittell) of Denver, CO; "the twins," Tachi Taylor (Harry Rodriguez) of New York, NY; and Anna Taylor (Gravley) of San Rafael, CA; and Yoana Georgis (Steve) of Boulder, CO. Additionally, seven grandchildren survive him: Andoni and Maria Sooklaris; Erin, Paris and Grace Gravley; and Philip and Jason Georgis. Please direct memorial donations to the American Prairie Reserve, at https://www. americanprairie.org/. A Celebration of Life Memorial will be held on June 10th at 2:00 p.m. at the Altona-Grange 9386 N. 39th St., Longmont, CO, 80503. All friends and family are welcome.