Edna Lee Taylor

Edna Lee (Reed) Taylor passed away on Wednesday, January 13, 2016, surrounded by three generations of family, at the Hays Medical Center in Hays, Kansas, at the age of 94. She was born on November 10, 1921 in Stockton, Kansas to the late Willis D. and Winnie May (Anderson) Reed. She grew up in Rooks County, Kansas and graduated from Stockton High School with the Class of 1939. She went on to attend Normal School in Hays receiving her Teaching Certificate so she could teach school in Bazine and Stockton. On June 2, 1945 she was united in marriage to Charles Albert Taylor in Stockton. After teaching school for several years, Edna Lee was happy to start life as a wife, mother, and homemaker. When she wasn’t too busy raising her family, she enjoyed reading, photography, gardening, playing cards, especially Pinochle, and was an avid fan of Fox News. She was a member of the United Methodist Church in Woodston and the United Methodist Women. After moving to Hays, she attended the First Presbyterian Church. Second only to her love for God, was her love for her family. Indeed they were her reason for living and being. She always enjoyed spending time with her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren whenever possible. As the matriarch of the family, she was also the family historian and genealogy expert. Over the years she collected an entire library of family records and established lifelong relationships with extended family members across the country and around the world. Edna Lee is survived by her sons John Taylor and wife Kathie of Hays, Paul Taylor and wife Colleen of Hays, and Tracy Lee Taylor of Oklahoma City, OK; daughters Bertha May Taylor of Mission, and Barbara Ellen Mullen and husband John of Dodge City; brother Clyde D. Reed and wife Elizabeth of Torrance, CA; nine grandchildren; and twelve great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents Willis D. and Winnie May Reed, husband Charles Albert Taylor, and brother Irwin Reed. Edna Lee was truly a woman of faith, hope, and love. Selflessly looking after her family and friends, she cared more about others than she did herself and showed us through thought, word, and deed that the greatest of these was love. As she rejoices in Heaven with her loving heavenly father and the family who have gone before her, we will love and miss her until we all meet again on the streets of gold. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 am on Saturday, January 16, 2016 at Plumer-Overlease Funeral Home in Stockton with burial following at the Stockton City Cemetery. Visitation will be from 2:00-8:00 pm on Friday at the funeral home.