Florence Eileen Taylor passed away peacefully on January 20, 2017 at the full age of 93. Florence and her beloved husband of 69 years, Robert Shannon Taylor had made their home in Ivins Utah for the past 19 years.
Florence was born on August 6, 1923 in Belfast N Ireland. The 6th child of a large Irish family with 4 sisters and 4 brothers. They all lived in a 3 level home with one bedroom for the girls and one bedroom for the boys, as well as one indoor bathroom. As was custom at the time, Florence finished her primary education at age 14 and went to work to help support her family. She soon found employment in a men’s clothing factory and used her skills to continue her love of sewing, crocheting and knitting throughout her life.
Through a typical Irish courtship of 3 years and 7 months, Florence married her sweetheart Robert in Belfast on October 20, 1947. Two years later they were blessed with a baby girl; Linda Margaret Eileen on January 18, 1949. The family lived in South Belfast. On June 27, 1953, Florence and Robert were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And thus began their long journey of coming to where the Saints settled in Utah with many stops in between. That same Robert found a 2 year contract job with an engineering firm in Montreal Canada. On October 16, 1952, the Florence, Robert and Linda set sail from Liverpool on the RMS Francona to Quebec City and then on to Montreal. It was quite a culture shock coming from Belfast to a large city in Canada and dealing with snow for the first time in their lives.
Life in Montreal blessed Florence with 2 boys. Rodney Paul (born July 15, 1954) and Robert Nigel (born September 29, 1955 on a return trip to Belfast. Florence worked part time in a woman’s hat store and served in the Branch Primary. Another long vacation in Ireland followed in the summer of 1960.
The urge to travel and keep heading to Utah next took the family to Richmond British Columbia. The west coast of Canada reminded our mom of Ireland as it rained all the time! Here Florence served in the Young Woman’s program and was able to work with many of the members in building a new church Stake Center. To this day Florence is the only one in her family to join the Mormon church.
After 5 years in BC; the family made the best move; the children think, to the Oakland hills in Northern California on December 13, 1967. Sunshine! The next relocation took Florence and Bob on their biggest move to Johannesburg South Africa in the 70s for 5 years. More moves followed to Boise Idaho, Orem Utah and finally settling down for good in St George Utah in 1992.
Florence had a lifetime love for music. She enjoyed singing in every ward choir and one of her favorite things was listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir any time of the day. Florence was self taught on the piano and organ. She loved roses and enjoyed tending her gardens in each house they lived. One of her proudest moments was becoming a US Citizen in the late 1980s. Florence loved to travel and see other parts of the world including a cruise to Hawaii in her late 80s. She has come many miles and a long way from that humble home in Belfast. Mom loved being Irish. She never lost her accent. In every town she lived in throughout her travels she always found Irish people to meet and socialize with. She loved her new country. She loved the church and she loved bearing her testimony of it.
Florence Eileen Taylor is survived by her daughter; Linda Margaret Eileen Taylor Neil; her sons; Rodney Paul Taylor and Robert Nigel Taylor; 7 grandsons with one deceased, 5 grand daughters, 9 great grand daughters with one deceased and 9 great grandsons. We are grateful she is now with her beloved Robert who left this earth on February 5, 2016.
A private service honoring the life of Florence Taylor was held in St George Utah on January 28, 2017.
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