Rachel Taylor

Rachel High Taylor, beloved wife of Raymond Mason Taylor and mother of Elizabeth (“Betsy”) Lee Taylor Garber, died in Raleigh on Wednesday morning, March 13, 2013. She was 75. Mrs. Taylor was born in Wilson, North Carolina, on December 23, 1937, the third daughter of Otho Lee High, Jr. and Elizabeth White Thompson High. She graduated from Charles L. Coon High School in 1955, attended Campbell Junior College, and graduated from Atlantic Christian College in 1958. Mrs. Taylor started teaching when she was only 20 years old, and taught primary grades during the next eight years in Efland and in Winstead and Woodard schools in Wilson. During high school, college, and into her mid-twenties, Mrs. Taylor participated in musical and theatrical activities in her church, schools, and communities. Endowed with an exceptional voice, she sang in numerous churches, musical productions, and weddings. Also, she was an active member of New Hope Baptist Church and the Junior Woman’s Club of Wilson. In 1965 she married Raymond Mason Taylor, a young lawyer who recently had assumed duties as Marshal and Librarian of the North Carolina Supreme Court, and they established their home in Raleigh. The young couple joined White Memorial Presbyterian Church where she taught Sunday School and sang in the choir. She also was a volunteer at Hilltop Home for special-needs children. Mrs. Taylor’s health began to decline when she was in her early twenties, making it necessary that she stop teaching and eventually give up singing as well as participating in the activities of her church and community. Nevertheless, she maintained an warm and inviting home, and she cultivated her garden, which provided flowers that she dried and made into beautiful arrangements that complemented the antiques with which her home is furnished. As time passed, Mrs. Taylor’s health continued to decline, but it could not overcome her radiant countenance, warm smile, gentle disposition, keen intellect, compassion for needy children and animals, and her abiding faith. In addition to her husband and daughter, Mrs. Taylor is survived by her three grandsons, Andrew Thompson Garber, Ryan Taylor Garber and Isaac Preston Garber, and their father, Kenneth Richard Garber, all of High Point. She is also survived by her two sisters, Bettie Rebecca (“Becky”) High Long of Raleigh, and Sylvia Jacqueline (Jacksie”) High Ferrell of Wilson. Mrs. Taylor’s funeral service will be held at 11:00 Friday morning, March 15, 2013, at White Memorial Presbyterian Church, 1604 Oberlin Road, Raleigh, North Carolina, and the family will meet friends in the Jane Bell Gathering Place immediately following the service. A graveside service and burial will be at 3:30 Friday afternoon at the Taylor Lot in Oakdale Cemetery, Fifteenth and Market Streets, Washington, North Carolina. Condolences may be sent to Renaissance Funeral Home at 7615 Six Forks Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27615, or www.rfhr.com

Rachel Taylor

December 23, 1937 - March 13, 2013