Joseph Ernest Taylor, III

Joseph Earnest Taylor III passed away on Wednesday afternoon, August 23, at Tennova hospital in Cleveland, TN after a long stay. His wife, Robin Whitehead Taylor and son, Lawrence Harrison Taylor, held him in their hearts as they let him go.

He was born September 26, 1947 to Virginia Johnson Taylor and Joseph Earnest Taylor II. He was the oldest of five children, and is survived by his sister Sallie, and brothers, Gregory Taylor, and Sutton Taylor.

A Bradley High School alumni of 1965, he went on to study Zoology at the University of Tennessee, where he spent one summer trapping and tagging black bears in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and one winter photographing trapdoor spiders in the southwestern US. He further went on to study Environment Law where he helped in defending the Snail Darter habitat. He and his wife Robin later moved to Florida where he began a career as a general contractor. Together with his partner Frank O'Conner, formed O'Conner & Taylor, where they employed over 100 people and provided full benefits and family leave. As a builder, he and his company won the Outstanding Builder of the Year award from the American Institute of Architects in 1996 and 2000.

After a 20 year career and raising a son, he and his wife Robin moved back to Tennessee to live on his wife's family farm, which had been in her family for four generations. Here he found peace and serenity he had rarely known before in the years before his death,and will always be here in spirit.

Services to honor Joey will be held at Companion Funeral Home, Cleveland Chapel, on Sunday, September 10, from 10 am to 12 pm.