Richard “Dick” Taylor of Turnersville, NJ passed away on Monday, April 16, 2013 at home at the age of 88. Dick was born on June 7, 1924 in Riverton, NJ to Thomas R. and Edith Moore Taylor. He was soon joined in the household by a brother, Donald (85) and a sister, Marjorie (deceased). Dick graduated from Palmyra High School in 1943. He joined the Army, and served in WWII as an air plane mechanic, part of the 846th Squadron of the 489 Bomber Group in the 8th Air Force. He was stationed at Halesworth Air Field in Suffolk, England, working on the B-24 Liberator Heavy Bomber before his discharge in 1945.

He attended Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, PA before going to work for Detwiler & Co. in Philadelphia in the insurance industry. On October 15, 1948, he married Alsia Atha Younkin, a Registered Nurse he met at a dance in Philadelphia. The couple lived in Philadelphia; Delanco, NJ; Collingswood, NJ; Glassboro, NJ and finally Turnersville, NJ during their 65 year marriage. Mr. & Mrs. Richard Taylor raised a family of five daughters.
Dick Taylor was a born salesman and spent his entire career in the insurance business. In 1956, he went to work for Harvey H. Smith & Associates, and purchased the independent agency in 1959. He served as the president of the Independent Mutual Insurance Agents Association of NJ in 1965 and was elected Mr. Mutual Agent at the Mutual Agents Association of New Jersey convention in 1963. Dick retired and sold the agency in 1984.

Dick was an outdoorsman who enjoyed hunting, fishing, training beagles, and golf. He was a member of the Garden State Beagle club and was active as a competitor at field trials. He joined a group of friends in raising pheasant and quail for release on hunting land they rented. In their early years together, both Dick and Pete enjoyed acting in theater productions for the “Foot lighters” amateur group in the Burlington Country area.
In the summer, the Taylor family would vacation at “the cabin,” a serene, rustic place on a lake in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. The wonderful memories from those summers resulted in the family purchasing 20 acres of land in Glassboro, NJ, where they built a house in 1967. From that time on, Dick enjoyed spending his spare time mowing on his tractor and supporting his daughters in a variety of equine pursuits.

After retirement, Dick also volunteered as a board member for the Gloucester County Red Cross. He and his wife “Pete” enjoyed spending several winter months a year in St. Augustine Florida.

Dick was very active in the Lutheran Church of America (LCA) and its successor, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) both at the state synod and the congregational level. In his lifetime he was a member of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Collingswood, NJ; St. James Lutheran Church in Pitman, NJ; and finally at Apostles Lutheran Church in Turnersville, NJ.
Dick Taylor was a family man and most enjoyed spending time with wife; his five daughters, Linda Powell (Joe); Pamela Taylor; Terry Shields (Mike); Nancy Swec (Joe); and Jennifer Arnold (Robert) and eight grand children (Timothy Powell, Daniel Powell, Adam Powell, Jeremy Klinger, Michael Swec, Caitlin Swec, Sarah Arnold, and Rachel Arnold. He was especially happy to welcome his first great-grandchild, Scott Powell, this past June.

Richard’s Memorial service will be celebrated Monday 11:00 am at Apostles Lutheran Church, 4401 Rt. 42, Turnersville, NJ 08012. In lieu of flowers donations may be made in Richard’s memory to the Apostles Lutheran Church Food Pantry at the above address. Condolences may be shared with the family at www.egizifuneral.com

“A Life Well Lived
Is Worth Remembering”