Roy and Roxa in younger family photos

The following are a collection of earlier photos of Roy and Roxa with their young family that have not yet been posted elsewhere.

Photos are from the personal albums of Gene/Della Nyberg unless otherwise stated.

"Ralph and dog 'Old Tip', Doris, Della on horse 'Old Shet' and Roxa"

"Roxa and Della"
NOTES: "Roxa Taylor and daughter Della.  Looks like Della is going to study.  She has her pencil and paper.  This is the one thing she has always liked to do."

"Roy Taylor and quarantine sign"
NOTES: "Doris on one corner of the house and her dad on the other.  They were quarantined with the measles.  The sign is on the house.  It's red with black letters"

"Roxa with neighbor, Mrs. Nebeker"
From personal albums of Cheryl Murray

More on Ralph Taylor

This history is about Ralph Taylor, one of Vera's brothers.  

It was found in the personal albums of Doris Sessions (and has been transcribed with indications of punctuation or spelling corrections.)  I do not know WHO wrote it or WHEN it was written, although clues throughout it suggest it was likely compiled by one of Vera's sisters who had interviewed or spoken with Ralph's widow, Ruth, before her move to Colorado in 2000.

All photos have been added by me and are from the personal albums of Althea Gray, unless otherwise stated.

Clippings and additional visuals have also been added by me, with added source material.

Ralph Taylor was born on January 13, 1910 in Chester, Sanpete, Utah.  He was the 9^th child in a family of 12 siblings.  He was a quiet and reserved individual.

Ralph (about 1940) went to Barber School in Colorado.  This is where he met his wife, Ruth Eva Nichols.  She had been married before and had a daughter about 5 years old named Pat.  Pat told her mother after they were married that Ralph had never been married before because he didn’t know how to talk to children.  Ralph and Ruth went to Barber School together, and after they were married, they went to live in Salt Lake City.

SOURCE: Vernal Express 1936, May 28, p.4

As Ruth tells it, Ralph was quite a cracker jack (whatever that means).  She says there was nothing she would have ever changed about Ralph, that he was a gorgeous man.  Ralph was always admired by his fellowmen.  Ruth tells it that she was bossy, and he always kind of liked that.  He would always ask her what she wanted to do about something, and they could decide together what to do.

Anything I wanted I got and anything I wanted him to do he did and he would like me to go fishing with him and things like that.  We would make a lunch and go up in the canyon, we would take Pat and we would go do different things.  Ralph loved to go fishing.  Ralph also had a beautiful voice and could really sing.

Ralph and Ruth worked up at Ft. Douglas cutting the hair for the enlistees.  Ruth ran the beauty shops, and Ralph ran the barber shops.  We were just like we were at home, we were right together all the time.  At night he would help me clean up my shop, and I would help him clean up his shop.

We had been married quite awhile before he went into the service.  In April 1944, my niece and I, her husband was in the service and mine was too, flew to California and spent the weekend with them.  Ralph took me over to the island, Catalina and showed me the things over there and we just had a wonderful time.

Ralph Taylor's military card
SOURCE: ancestry.com
(see source info on image for more details)

1940s postcard image borrowed from www.hometownarchive.com 

While Ralph was in the service, Ruth bought the house where she still now resides [as of this writing].  Ralph was released and came home and told Ruth that they couldn’t afford a house or a car until he got a job.  Ruth had bought the house and care and they were all paid for.  She also told him that she had a job all lined up for him.  He then went back to Fort Douglas where he had worked before he went into the service.

Thea Taylor, Ralph’s niece, had come to live in Salt Lake.  Thea in the meantime had met Jess [Gray] and she could not find a home to live, so I said where our house is big down here so just move down in with us.  As soon as Thea and Jess located a home in which they would live, they moved out.  Thea and Jess would come down to visit Ralph and Ruth every Sunday and have dinner with them.  Sometimes Jess (Thea’s husband) and Ralph would go out and [do] things in the yard but Thea and Ruth would always talk a lot.  Ruth and Thea became as “thick as thieves”.

Ralph and Ruth outside their home

Ralph, Ruth, Bob's wife, Bob (good friend?), Althea kneeling
Outside their Holladay home

Ralph and Ruth's yard- wow.

Next to our house, Ralph and Ruth had a little orchard planted.  Ralph wanted to take out some trees that were in the orchard.  So on July 8, 1950 they took to the orchard to do this project.  They always worked together and loved it.  They were out in the orchard and some of the neighborhood boys, 2 of them lived right next door, came and said they were thinking of going fishing.  It was the opening day of fishing and Ralph said he would love to go with them as he really enjoyed fishing.  He was undecided as he wanted to get the trees finished and everything.  Ruth told him that they could do that later, and to go ahead and go with the guys fishing.  They left the next morning and while he was gone one of Ruth’s nieces from Colorado came in and she was doing her hair.  Ruth had baked a cake and was hurrying around because he was due home at any time.  She was almost finished with her niece when she saw the car coming back up the street.  She said “Here comes my fisherman”, and set everything down and ran out to meet them.  Ruth could see Ralph lying in the back—seat.  She told the other guys that if he couldn’t stay awake until he got home, that they would have to find another fishing mate.  She was just joking, when Neal (one of the guys) came up to me and put his arms around me and said, “Ruth, a terrible thing has happened.”  Ruth asked him [what] was the matter and he said that Ralph was dead.  Ruth would not believe him.  She sent the guy for a doctor and told the other one to help her get him into bed.  She told them that he was alright and didn’t believe them.

The story went that Ralph was fishing and got his hook caught on the branch of a tree.  He climbed up the tree to get his hook out when he fell out of the tree.  He was alive on the way to Salt Lake, and they wanted to take him to the hospital.  He told [them] No, that he wanted to get home and he’d be okay.  On the edge of town they told him they wanted to stop and call Ruth.  He told them no, that Ruth would know just what to do when he got home.  Before they got him home, however, he died.  They figured that he had had a heart attack and died.  They Taylors were all known for their bad hearts.

Cropped from a larger photo from the personal albums of Gene Nyberg.

Death info on Ruth Taylor

 Ruth Eva Nichols Taylor was Vera's sister-in-law.  She married Vera's brother, Ralph.

Photo from the personal albums of Althea Gray
Photo cropped by me from larger image.

According to this obituary, the following dates apply:

BIRTH: 10 Apr 1908- (near) DeBeque, Mesa, Colorado

DEATH: 29 Apr 2002- ,, Colorado

She was  94 years old when she died (wow.)

Obituary:

SOURCE: Salt Lake Tribune 2002, May 4, p.D5
Found in the personal albums of Althea Gray, April 2012

Obituary transcribed:

Ruth E. Nichols Williams

4/10/08-4/29/02

Ruth E. Nichols Williams was born April 10, 1908.  For several years she had a summer home that she and her third husband, Albert Williams had restored.  In Nov. 2000, Ruth moved back to Grand Junction to be near friends and relatives.  She passed away April 29, 2002.

She is survived by her daughter, Patsy of Grand Junction, CO; one stepdaughter, Reita Lynne Williams Poulton of Oakley, ID; and one stepson, Dewey Charles Williams of Caldwell, ID; and many loving nieces and nephews.

A family service was held May 2nd at the Fountains Retirement Home in Grand Junction, CO.

Colorado obituary:

SOURCE: The Daily Sentinel 2002,  May 1, p?
Sent to me via email from the Museum of Western Colorado

Colorado obituary transcribed:

Ruth E. Nichols Williams

April 10, 1908- April 29, 2002

Ruth E. Nichols Williams was born April 10, 1908, to Clarence Charles J. and Eva King Nichols, near DeBeque, CO.  She was the youngest of nine children, all of whom have preceded her in death.  She grew up in the Molina/Mesa area attending school at the Bull Creek school at Molina.  Ruth married Murry Collins, of Clifton, CO and one child, Patsy Ruth Collins was born to them, she survives.  The marriage ended in divorce.  Ruth attended the School of Cosmetology in Salt Lake City, Utah.  She later married Ralph Taylor, and together they operated several barbershops at military installations in the Salt Lake area.  Ralph entered the Navy in World War II and Ruth took over management of the shops, at one time she managed four barber shops and three beauty salons.  Ralph passed away in 1950.  Ruth continued in the business for several years.  A year and a half later, she married Albert Williams.  He passed away in 1976.

In Ruth's lifetime she was successful in many areas, she was a licensed realtor and a successful developer.  She started painting when she was 64 and became an outstanding artist.  Ruth was a talented poet and had a book of her poems published.

Ruth also found time to raise a lovely garden and with her flower arrangements won countless ribbons and awards in the Salt Lake County fairs and in southern Idaho, where, for several years she had a summer home that she and her third husband, Albert Williams had restored.

In November 2000, Ruth moved back to Grand Junction to be near friends and relatives.  She passed away April 29, 2002, and is also survived by many loving nieces and nephews.

A family memorial service will be held at a later date.

We will miss her.

Photo from the personal albums of Althea Gray

Death Info on Ralph Taylor

Ralph Taylor was Vera's younger brother.

Photo from the personal album of Althea Gray.

According to these documents, the following dates apply:

BIRTH: 13 Jan 1910; Chester, Sanpete, Utah

DEATH: 9 July 1950; Holladay, Salt Lake, Utah

He was 40 years old when he died.

Death Certificate:

SOURCE: familysearch.org

Death notice:

SOURCE: Vernal Express 1950, July 20, p.5

Obituary transcribed:

Last Rites For Ralph Taylor Held in Holladay

LAPOINT- Funeral services were held last Wednesday at Holladay for Ralph Taylor, 40, who died from a fall received when he and two neighbors were fishing on Strawberry River. Catching his hook in a tree, Mr. Taylor was climbing up to free it when the limb broke, letting him fall 12 feet. He died on the way to his home.

Prayer was offered at the home by the Bishop of his ward. Speakers were Willard Day and Brother Livingston. Two violin duets, "Perfect Day" and "O My Father" and a vocal solo, "Lead Kindly Light" were offered. Benediction was by Coy Hayward.

Pallbearers were Roy, Rex, Leslie and Sherman Taylor, Jess Grey and George Nyberg.

Burial was in the Holladay Memorial Park under the direction of the Larking Funeral home. Lynn Cloward dedicated the grave.

Ralph Taylor was born January 13, 1910 at Chester, Utah, Sanpete County. He came to the Uintah Basin with his parents in 1914. He was married to Ruth Eva Nichols, March 10, 1936. Later their marriage was solemnized in the Salt Lake LDS Temple.

Surviving are his widow, his mother, Mrs. Roxa Taylor of Lapoint and the following brothers and sisters: Rex Taylor, Mrs. Vera Huber, Mrs. Della Nyberg, all of Lapoint; Leslie Taylor, Leeton; Sherman Taylor, Meeker, Colo; Mrs. Zelma Jensen, Bremerton, Wash.; Mrs. Cora Hayward, Bountiful and Mrs. Doris Ross of Vernal.

* Punctuation and spelling corrected inasmuch as my knowledge allowed.

This obituary leads me to conclude that he and his wife Ruth had no children, but I shall have to investigate that point further.

"Ralph grave, May 31, 1951"

Apparently a visit was taken on Memorial Day.

Photo is from the personal album of Clayton Huber

"Ralph's grave May 31, 1951"

Photo is from the personal album of Clayton Huber

I don't know who this lady is, but I'd like to assume it is his wife, Ruth.... or possibly a sister?