Donald Leroy Taylor

1933 - 2024

Emmett - In the aviator's parlance, Donald Leroy Taylor (90), of Emmett, went west this winter on December 21. He passed peacefully in his sleep at the Cottages in Emmett on the longest night of the year. Like so many others in his generation, he leaves a life of dedication and selfless sacrifice so that his family didn't need to make those hard-working sacrifices.

But his work wasn't all sacrifice. He loved to fly airplanes, a lot. And that's what he did for more than 35,000 hours over more than 40 years as an ag pilot in California and Idaho. He discovered his life-long passion for flying after the war when my grandpa paid $500 for a low-time surplus Vultee BT-13. When he wasn't flying an ag plane, he was passing along his crop duster's knowledge of flying airplanes as an instructor, or taking advantage of a strong crosswind to practice in his Tri-Pacer. In the evening, he read about airplanes. And he recalled it all even until very late in his life. He was a recipient of the prestigious Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, becoming eligible after 50 years of flight. No remembrance of our dad's professional life would be complete without a mention of two men he loved, admired and lost in airplane crashes; Bud Fountain and Jack Sperry.

An aviator is what he did. But a good man was what he was. He was friendly to everyone, generous, honest and above all, he was a family man. He could be short on words, but he was long on action. If my brother and sister and I wanted to know how to be good person and citizen, all we had to do was watch him and our mom. He taught us everyone is the same by treating everyone the same.

Don, or Donnie to those he grew up with, was born in Stanislaus County, California on Dec. 2, 1933 to Donald Frederick and Winifred Totten Taylor. Dad grew up in a family of Central Valley farmers and land levelers. He was pushing brush on a CAT THIRTY at eight-years-old, around the same time his dad taught him welding and fabrication. On his first day of freshman welding in high school, his teacher noted his skill, called him aside and assigned him to fabricate much-needed hurdles for the Hughson Husky track team. I never saw this, but he claimed that in his younger years, he could weld with a torch and stick in each hand.

At Hughson High School, he met our mom, Charlene Adams. They wed on Jan 30 1953, and shortly thereafter, they embarked on a two-year, all expenses paid vacation to Europe when dad got drafted into the United States Army. He was a truck mechanic and drove a wrecker all over Tyrol region and Northern Italy. He once quipped about his "combat tour" in the army that the only action he saw was at the battle of the Salzburg beer hall. The newlyweds had a fairy-tale honeymoon and remained close to army buddies for the rest of their lives. They returned from Europe, driving home to Stanislaus County from New York in the new red MGA they bought in England, and started farming. They began their family at the end of the baby boom in 1959 with the birth of my brother. I was added me in 1960, and his much-loved daughter came along two years later.

Mom and dad had a true California Story. He was the hard-working great-grandson of a forty-niner and she was a baseball-loving promoter of education for her children and the sixth of seven in a jolly family of migrants to the Central Valley from Eastern Oklahoma. They raised their family, did well, sold out and moved to Idaho.

The family would like to thank the staff at The Cottages for their kind, friendly and patient care of our dad in his final months.

Dad was preceded by our mom who passed away in 2014 after 61 years of marriage and his second wife and companion through his later years, Yvonne Danison.

Don is survived by sons, Chris (Joni) Taylor of Yuba City, Ca. Kelly (Kellie) Taylor of Emmett, daughter Julie (Stan) Bartsch of Sparks, NV., 8 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren. All are invited to attend a Celebration of Life planned for noon on Feb. 24 at Community Bible Church in Emmett.