Katharine Taylor

Katharine Taylor (1934-2022)
Katharine Elizabeth (Hazeltine) Taylor of Hendersonville, North Carolina passed away peacefully in
the early hours of Sunday, June 26, 2022 after several years of declining health. She was 88. She
was preceded in death by her parents, Russell North and Bonnie Marie (Cantrell) Hazeltine, her
husband, Frederick Eugene Taylor, Sr., and a sister Marie Morgan. She is survived by her sister
Margaret Perkins of Columbus, MS, her sons Frederick, Jr. of Washington DC, and David, of
Charlotte NC, Rick’s partner Theo Hodge, and David’s wife Susan McClain.
A native of Henderson County, Mrs. Taylor was born on January 3, 1934 at the old Patton Memorial
Hospital, and was the valedictorian of the Dana High School class of 1952. She attended Gardner-
Webb University, then a junior college, and received her BA from Carson-Newman College in 1956.
Mrs. Taylor met her future husband when they were both working at summer camps owned by Joe
and Mary Bell, she at Camp Glen Arden for girls, and he at Arrowhead for boys. They were married
in 1960 at Valley Hill Baptist Church and honeymooned at Fontana Dam. They came home to a
garage apartment in Tuxedo, but soon moved to a new house they built on a parcel of land carved
out of the Taylor family farmland on Mount Olivet. After her husband’s death in 1998, Mrs. Taylor
maintained the home they had made at the foot of “Taylor Hill” for as long as she could give it the
care she felt it deserved, but moved to Carolina Village in 2008.

A passionate advocate for children, Mrs. Taylor was a life-long educator in the public school system
of North Carolina, mostly in Henderson County. She began her career as an elementary classroom
teacher and then, upon receiving her 6 th year certification in Library Science from Western Carolina
University, she became a primary school librarian and media specialist. Mrs. Taylor was also an
active volunteer and leader in local educational and civic efforts outside her professional life. When
the Taylors’ church, Main Street Baptist, sponsored two families of Cambodian refugees in the late
1970’s, she was one of several members who tutored them in English and introduced them to the
exotic customs of their new homeland. Mrs. Taylor was instrumental in establishing the Green
River Branch of the Henderson County Public Library in 1990, and she was a faithful volunteer
librarian there for many years. She was also a loyal “farm-hand” at the Johnson Farm Museum as
well, helping to organize the Johnson Farm Festival, and volunteering in various other capacities
there from fund-raiser to tour guide. In 2009, she was inducted into the Henderson County
Education Foundation Hall of Fame, and her nomination for the honor described her as a quiet
“can-do” person who gave generously of time, resources, and wisdom.

Mrs. Taylor was deeply devoted to her family which had deep roots in Henderson County on her
mother’s side and New England on her father’s, and in her retirement, she applied her archival skills
to the organization and preservation of family letters and papers spanning almost two centuries.
Mrs. Taylor was a member of PEO (Philanthropic Education Organization), the North Carolina
Association of Educators, the Henderson County Education Foundation, and the Abraham
Kuykendall chapter of the DAR.

The visitation will be held at Schuler Funeral Home, 125 Orr’s Camp Road, Hendersonville NC on
Friday, July 8 from 4 to 6 PM. Interment will be at Shepherd Funeral Park, 5045 Asheville Highway
on Saturday, July 9 at 1:30PM, followed by a Memorial Service at 4PM at the Village Hall of
Carolina Village, 600 Carolina Village Road, Hendersonville, NC . In lieu of flowers, memorials in
her name may be made to the Henderson County Education Foundation, PO Box 1267,
Hendersonville, NC 28793 (https://hcefnc.org/), or to the Green River Community Association,
PO Box 82, Zirconia, NC 28790 ( https://wearethegrca.org/).

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