August 6, 1928 – November 3, 2014
John Thomas Taylor, beloved husband and father went West to join that fraternity of former pilots/aviators that have gone before, on Monday, Third, November, 2014. He is the first born to the late Lonnie F. Taylor and Ella D. Rader-Taylor of Davis, California. He is a graduate of Woodland High School in Woodland, California. He was employed as a truck driver by River Garden Farms during and following high school graduation. He received his civil flying training at the Wegger’s Flying School at The Flyer’s Club Airport near Woodland, California where he subsequently became an employee in 1948 and continued there until his entry into The United States Air Force (USAF) in August 1950. He served twenty-two years in the USAF. While on active duty with the USAF, he met and married Anna (Ann) May Sheetz of Alpha, New Jersey on April 7,1956. Ann and John produced three children, John Thomas IV, Marie Antoinette, and Robert Mark. John IV and wife Reneé presented granddaughter Sherri and grandson Andrew. Marie Antoinette with grandson Bret Adams. John retired from the USAF on September 1, 1972 and entered The Cullen College of Engineering at The University of Houston in Houston, Texas. Houston became “home” for the Taylor family when John returned from a Southeast Asia tour in August of 1967. In mid-1976, he entered into employment with Kentron International. In early 1978 John sought employment with Boeing Aerospace supporting the Space Shuttle program and later Space Station Freedom project. He retired from Boeing in 1991 due to heart disease. While in the USAF and in the employ of the Aerospace Industry, John became an alumni of nine Colleges/Universities. Flying and Aerospace engineering was his love, second only to Ann and his family. John is a lifetime member of the Air Force Association, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the System Safety Society, the Houston Aviation Alliance, Saint Bernadette’s Catholic Church, Bay Area Serra Club, the Planetary Society, and past member of The Cousteau Society.