Willard Z. Taylor

Willard Z. Taylor, 84 of Fairbury, NE passed away August 1, 2016 at his home. He was born November 28, 1931 to Jesse Merton & Erma Ida (Wilson) Taylor in Phillipsburg, KS. He was a retired Air Force Veteran serving for 22, years, 5 months and 1 day.

Willard resided in Phillipsburg, KS during the early years of his life, attending grade school, middle school and high school. He graduated from Phillipsburg High School in 1949. In his youth, Willard worked at various jobs; including Blackwell Elevator feed plant sacking feed, Lumpkin Grocery, Ben Franklin Store, and the Winship Theater. Willard, known as “Spud”, tried his hand at the amateur rodeo circuit riding bulls and bareback horses. After getting bucked off a horse, over a fence and into a car bumper, splitting his head open, dad figured there was probably a better way to make a living. He traveled to the sand hills of Nebraska and to the plains of Colorado and worked as a ranch-hand on a couple of different ranches. In June of 1951, he visited his brother Wardy and family in Norton, Kansas. While there, he took a stroll downtown and found himself at an armed services recruiting station, where he decided to enlist. He reported to Kansas City, Kansas for military enlistment processing and was met there by a Sgt. First Class who lined up all the enlisted alphabetically. The Sgt. counted off, raised his arm up and let it fall between two enlistees whose name began with a “T”. The Sgt. indicated that the front of the file would be going to the First Armored Division in Fort Hood, TX, and the rear of the file would be going to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX. As Willard was in the rear file, he began his Air Force Career. He was stationed at various bases across the United States and overseas, including McCord AFB, WA; Okinawa AFB, Japan; Udorn AFB, Thailand; Ramstein AFB, Germany; Shaw AFB, SC; Minot AFB, ND and Beale AFB, CA. Dad retired from the Air Force while at Beale AFB on February 1st, 1974.

While at McCord AFB, Willard met his first wife Evelyn; to that union 2 sons were born – Mark and Michael. While overseas, Willard and Evelyn divorced; dad was then stationed at Shaw AFB, SC. He was introduced to Dixie McDaniel by his sister and brother-in-law Winnie and Emerson Melvin; Dixie and Willard hit it off immediately and were soon married on August 9th, 1964 at the First Baptist Church in Fairbury, NE. Willard adopted Dixie’s two children Richard and Mary, and they began their new adventure as a military family. While stationed at Shaw AFB, Matthew was born to Willard and Dixie on January 12, 1966. Willard and his family were stationed at several different bases until he retired from the Air Force in February 1974; at this time the family returned to and settled in Fairbury, NE. Willard was employed at various businesses in the area, including Peterson’s in Daykin and Kellwood’s and Swingster’s in Fairbury.

Willard had three real loves during his life; the USAF, his wife Dixie, and his family, which included his grandchildren and great grandchildren. He loved his family with all his heart and they were always his first priority. This was evidenced by always providing a stable, loving, supportive home and family lifestyle. He was a role-model for not only his own children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but also to many children and teenagers in the community who frequented the Taylor home. There was no better husband, dad, grandpa or great-grandpa in the world; he loved serving as protector, supporter and friend to many. He will be greatly missed by his family and countless others. Although he is not physically present, he will always be close in heart and watching over us. Rest in peace and know that you will be missed tremendously by us all; we love you more than our words can every say.

Willard was preceded in death by his parents, 6 brothers, 2 sisters, son Richard and wife Dixie.

Survivors are son Matt (Kimberly) Taylor of Geneva, daughter Chris Taylor of Fairbury, 7 grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held, August 5th 2016 at 10:00 a.m. at the First Baptist Church in Fairbury, NE. a meet and greet will be held Thursday, August 4th, 2016 from 6 – 8 p.m. at the Gerdes-Meyer Funeral Home in Fairbury, NE. Memorials will be to the family’s choice.