Graphite pencil portrait I did of my Uncle Richard Taylor after his death. Taylor Funeral Home Founder, 72, Dies LEONARD -- Richard L. Taylor, founder of Taylor Funeral Home in Leonard, died Tuesday, November 12, 2002, at his home following a lengthy illness. He was 72. Services will be at 2:00 PM Thursday, November 14, at the funeral home chapel with Charles Wrenn officiating. Burial will be in Leonard Cemetery. Taylor opened the funeral home in July of 1968 after having purchased refurbished an old home. Over the years, he added a chapel to the building, which also was the private Taylor residence, according to his wife, Ruth Taylor. "He was an old-fashioned funeral director ... who always wanted to be right there for the families," Mrs. Taylor said. She said that was one reason the family home was connected to the funeral home and one reason he never took vacations. Taylor, who was born in the Taylorville community northeast of Leonard and graduated from Trenton High School, was twenty-three when he first became involved in the funeral business. Besides Taylor Funeral Home he purchased the Sorrells & Sons Funeral Home at its former location on Washington Street in Greenville. He sold the business prior to a fire that heavily damaged the two-story brick structure. (He also bought the former Jacque and Maurine Bickham home in Celeste, located on the corner of Sanger and Seventh streets, for a Celeste funeral home. Theda Lacy said that the first and only body there was Spider Barnett's. I think I am correct on that. She has said many times who was the first and maybe only body there.*) Although the funeral business was his primary interest, his first love beyond that was the Leonard Cemetery Association, said his wife. Besides restoring the historic cemetery and bringing good roads and perpetual care, he also established a trust fund endowment, she said. While he did not become active in any one organization in Leonard, he assisted any group asking for his help including providing his funeral tent for special events such as the annual Leonard Picnic, Mrs. Taylor said. Taylor was born on September 19, 1930, to William Thomas and Amelia Elizabeth Lemons Taylor. He and Ruth Riddle were married on January 2, 1983, in Leonard. He was a member of the First Baptist Church of Leonard. Surviving besides his wife are a son, Jim Taylor of Leonard; daughter, Beth Stroud of Leonard; step-son, Scott Todd of Leonard; step-daughters, Robin Kent and Shanna Lewis of Leonard; a sister, Wilma Donihoo of Denison; brothers, Von Ratcliff of Shallowater and James Ratcliff of Savannah, Georgia; eleven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Visitation will be today from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at the funeral home. (November 13, 2002, The Greenville Herald Banner)