Linda Kay Taylor

Linda Kay Taylor (nee Followell) passed away peacefully and surrounded by family on June 17, 2025 in Salt Lake City. She was preceded in death by husband Thomas (Tommy) Taylor, parents Aubrey and Wilma (Bocock) Followell, and sister Judy (Followell) Koger. She is survived by brother Larry Followell and sister Brenda Henderson (Followell) and her partner Gary, as well as her children Pamela Taylor and her spouse Doug Schmidt, and Lansing Taylor and spouse Chelsea Taylor, and grandchildren, Tasneem Malik, Saara Khalid, Ameera Khalid, Noora Khalid, Elias Taylor and Ezra Taylor, and great-grandchildren Hayan and Hiba Malik. Linda was born in Columbus, Indiana. She attended Columbus High and was a majorette with the marching band where Tommy played trumpet. Linda attended Indiana University, where she earned a degree in English. Linda was an active participant in the IU theater group as was Tommy. They married in their junior year, and their daughter Pamela Kay Taylor was born the summer before Linda and Tommy's senior year. Although it took a lot of juggling of schedules and Tommy's mom babysitting Pamela while Linda completed her teaching practicum, they both graduated. After graduation, Linda, Tommy and Pamela relocated to Bedford, Massachusetts. Linda taught English at Bedford High School while Tommy attended Harvard Law School. Linda retained her interest in theater and was an active member with the Bedford Players, performing in many productions, most memorably as the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz. Once Tommy was established in his career, they decided it was time for a second child and Linda stopped working once their son, William Lansing Taylor, was born. In 1972, the family moved to an old farmhouse on three acres in Acton, Massachusetts, which would be their home for many, many years. Linda planted a huge garden and grew a wide array of vegetables to feed her family - peas, broccoli, corn, green beans, tomatoes. She was also an avid knitter, making sweaters for the kids and her husband. She maintained her lifelong passion for the theater at the Concord Players as an actor, director and lighting designer. While she performed many roles, one of the most memorable was as Jo March in a production of Little Women. She later directed the play, while her daughter played the role of Beth. Linda was also an avid outdoorswoman. She loved to hike, canoe, windsurf, ski (both cross country and downhill), go jogging, and to play tennis. She was a national champion in the sport of Orienteering, and she and Lansing were both members of the US Team to the World Orienteering Championships. She was also a member of the US Orienteering Foundation Board and the event director for the 1993 World Orienteering Championships which was held in New York. In the 1990s Linda returned to school to pursue a MFA in Theatrical Lighting at Boston University. As a professional lighting designer, she was known for her dramatic lighting style, and she worked with various professional theatrical and dance troupes, including tours in Peru and Spain. When Tommy retired, he and Linda adopted a nomadic lifestyle, spending summers at Chaco Canyon Cultural Heritage site where they volunteered as astronomy docents, winters at a variety of ski areas, and spring and fall at the lake home they shared with their son and daughter-in-law. They fell in love with the Salt Lake City region and moved there in 2014. Linda devoted the final years of her life to taking care of Tommy after he developed Alzheimer's. Special thanks to the Ridge and Canyons Hospice for their loving care of Linda.