Honorary Academy Member David S Taylor Passes Away

Honorary member of the 2008 class of the West Virginia Academy of Civil Engineers David S. Taylor has passed away.

Taylor, 79, of Charleston, passed away Saturday, July 12.
Taylor spent his last four months in Roanoke, Va., with family, fighting and ultimately succumbing to a neurological disorder called Shy-Dragger Syndrome.
Taylor was born in 1929 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Preceding him in death were his first wife, Sally Ramsey, and second wife, Betty Mueller. He was the son of the late Charles McIntire and Marjorie Underwood Taylor.

He moved to Huntington when he was 9 years old so that his father, an engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, could work on the Huntington Flood Wall.

Taylor attended public schools in Huntington and college at Cornell University, earning a civil engineering degree in 1952. After college he spent fours years in the U.S. Air Force as a jet fighter pilot. Taylor then spent 18 years with Kenneth M. Dunn Construction Company and 15 years as owner of Taylor and Striegel Inc., doing utility construction work. During his years in the construction business, he continued to be active in the W.Va. Air National Guard as a pilot and ultimately reached the rank of brigadier general.

He retired from the Air National Guard in 1986 and from the construction business in 2002.
He is survived by brother, John Taylor and sister-in-law, Grace Taylor of Phoenix, Ariz.; sons, Steve and daughter-in-law, Beth Taylor, of Charlotte, N.C., Greg and daughter-in-law, Ginny Taylor, of Roanoke, Va., and Jed Taylor of Ashland, Ore.; stepson, Greg Chapman and stepdaughter-in-law, Tanya Chapman, of Clearwater, Fla.; stepdaughter Kelly Pelfrey and stepson-in-law, Rob Pelfrey, of Zephyrhills, Fla.; grandchildren, Danny (22), Allison (20), Stephen (19), Wilson (16), Trey (14), Emily (9) and Matthew (7); stepgrandchildren, Greg Chapman (42), Tara Peabody (18) and Victoria Pelfrey (8); and stepgreat-grandchild Kevin (1).

Taylor was an Eagle Scout and a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Charleston.

Taylor's wishes were to donate his body to the West Virginia University Human Gift Registry.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, July 25, at the 130th Airlift Wing at the Air National Guard Base on Coonskin Drive, Charleston.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society.

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