Robert Page Taylor - Obituary [Virginian-Pilot, 1999]

Published by The Virginian-Pilot - Saturday, September 18, 1999 Link

The Rev. Robert Page Taylor, 67, an Episcopal priest, died Sept. 16, 1999, in his home in Virginia Beach.

Fr. Taylor served the Diocese of Chicago from 1958 until his retirement in 1996. He began his ministry as chaplain to Cook County Prison and was a member of a team which founded St. Leonard's House, a halfway house for persons leaving prison. From 1963 to 1970, Fr. Taylor was the executive director of the agency, guiding it through a time of expansion. He was assistant priest at The Church of St. Paul and the Redeemer in Chicago during the time he was a staff member at Leo J. Shapiro and Associates, a survey research firm. Fr. Taylor joined the Diocese of Chicago staff in 1980 to become director of the Office of Pastoral Care, a service of assistance to Episcopal priests, their families, lay employees and members of Episcopal congregations experiencing difficulties in living.

In 1987, Fr. Taylor was named a Canon of the Episcopal Church when he became director of Program and Mission for the Diocese. This work involved strategic planning for mission parishes and designing overall direction for Diocesan services. In the 1960s, Fr. Taylor was involved in the Civil Rights Movement in Chicago and elsewhere, managing the legal defense funds of those arrested in demonstrations in Chicago. After retirement, he was interim rector of the Church of the Ascension in Chicago, St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Norfolk, and St. Bride's Church in Chesapeake.

Fr. Taylor was also a licensed clinical social worker and a senior certified addiction counselor. He served as consultant to individuals, families and businesses in the field of chemical dependency and mental health.

Fr. Taylor was born in Norfolk and was the son of Jerome and Roberta Taylor. He graduated from Granby High School in Norfolk in 1949. He attended Hampden-Sydney College where he pledged Chi Phi Fraternity. He received a B.A. degree from the University of Virginia in 1953, a Masters of Divinity degree in 1958 from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Evanston, Ill., and a master's degree in social work from the University of Chicago in 1982.

His family includes his wife, Carvel Underwood Taylor of the home; four children: Susan Amory of Boston and her husband, David, and their children, Linzee and John; Stephen Taylor of Redondo Beach, Calif.; Joseph Taylor of Chicago and his wife, Wendy, and their children, Joseph Paul III, Terrance and Trevor; and Mary Taylor of Chicago and her son, Christopher Nakutis. He is also survived by his sister, Elizabeth Tazewell of Norfolk and her husband, John; his brother, the Rev. Lewis Jerome Taylor of Virginia Beach and his wife, Pauline; and his brother, William Taylor of Alexandria and his wife, Nancy.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Norfolk, led by the Rev. John J. Capellaro. In addition, a memorial Eucharist will be held at 11 a.m., Oct. 2, 1999, at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Chicago by the Rev. Gary Fertig.