Obituary of Lawrence C. Taylor

Lawrence Taylor, 81, passed suddenly on May 12, 2015 at Deborah Heart and Lung Hospital. He was a life-long Millville resident. Lawrence is predeceased by his parents, Lovisa and Lawrence "Stump" Taylor. He is survived by his childhood sweetheart and devoted wife of 65 years, Beatrice Taylor. They were best friends in 6th grade and started dating in 8th grade. Lawrence had a full life and accomplished milestones in his 81 years. He was the founder and organizer of Cedar Buck gunning club in 1955. As a young man his passion for hunting was passed down from his father "Stump" Taylor. The Cedar Buck gunning club was built on his original homestead and farm. He started the club for his friends and family as a place for Turkey Shoot competitions. Cedar Buck gunning club grew in size of members for many years until the early 1970's. Lawrence grew up in a farming family. His parents started out as poultry farmers and later diversified to field crops. Cedar Buck Farm Market (named for the location at the corner of Cedarville and Buckshutem Roads) started as a small roadside market in the early 1950's and grew to great success over the years. Through the decades Lawrence, wife Beatrice and children helped develop a large scale farming operation specializing in strawberries, sweet corn, tomatoes and melons. In the height of the farming operation, Lawrence employed many locals and gave jobs to young men and women throughout Millville. Many of the employees would comment that it was the hardest but most educational job they had the pleasure of being part of. Lawrence was a demanding employer and instilled in both family and employees, the important value of work ethic & honesty. He was always concerned that his employees were well fed and he patronized only local restaurants for take outs to insure that his family and employees had meals during the long summer farming work days. Lawrence was a visionary as far as "fast food" being unhealthy and would never let his children eat at any of the corporate fast food establishments....to quote he would say "that stuff is poison". He was also a proponent of buying local, patronizing only locally owned businesses. In addition to his family business of farming, Lawrence had a natural talent for operating heavy equipment. Coinciding with running a farming operation, Lawrence joined Operating Engineer Local 825 Union. It was just this March 2015, Lawrence was awarded the Gold Card Local 825 for 40 credit years. Lawrence retired from Operating Engineers Local 825 at 62 and went back into smaller scale farming growing watermelons, tomatoes, cantaloupes and strawberries for his entire family, friends and neighbors. Lawrence was not afraid of anything except snakes. His "old" farmhouse and home was struck by lightning in the middle of the night in 1975. As the entire upper floor was engulfed by flames, Lawrence still ran to the upper floor braving fire and smoke to make sure all of his children were out of the house. Additionally, during the same decade Lawrence resuced passengers from a burning small plane which crashed near his property. Lawrence was the first responder and pulled the passengers to safety. He received a citizen accomodation from the City of Millville. For two decades during the 1960's and 70's, Lawrence was a volunteer NJ Fire Warden for Center Grove and the surrounding rural areas. Lawrence was a devoted son and nephew. After the demise of his father, "Stump" Taylor, he took wonderful care of his mother, Lovisa, for 14 years and kept her within 50 feet of reach, attended to her needs and was at her bedside when she passed. He kept his promise to his dad to take care of his Uncle Wilbur Taylor and he took him into his own home to care for him up until Wilbur Taylor's demise. Lawrence was generous to a fault. He was always willing to help in lending a hand and giving of his time especially to his children and family but also friends and neighbors. He insisted on large Sunday family dinners and made everyone watch "Bonanza" or "John Wayne" movies in the evening. His children often likened him to "John Wayne", as he was old school, in telling things like they were and his love of rifles and hunting. He was a man who did not mince any words and was often right, but apologized when he was wrong. His grandchildren range in age from 45 to 13. In his later years his two youngest grand-daughters, Emily and Elly Taylor called him poppie and kept him young at heart building tree forts, Halloween trails on the farm, planting pumpkins and gourds and drinking chocolate milk together. Lawrence showed his immense love for his children by incessant worrying and lectures about safety and driving. His favorite lecture was " only drive 45mph" ....he would say "it gets you there safe and it gets you there alive". As an Operator Engineer Lawrence paved many roads, highways and bridges. He knew Jersey and Delaware roads like the back of his hand. When doing errands or taking trips with family, he always knew a short cut. However, the "short-cut" was always took twice as long--this was just his way of saying he wanted to spend more time on the ride with the people he loved. He helped his children and grandchildren fix cars, drive stick shift, build houses, provide fresh grown food, stand up to bullies, develop character, kick butt when needed and stand strong for your family and beliefs. The success and happiness of Lawrence's children and grands is due in great part to the strong, determined, intelligent,witty and generous character of this amazing man and his awesome life. To quote Isaac Newton, Lawrence Taylor's family would all agree " If we have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants". Lawrence Taylor was such a giant. He is survived by his wife, Beatrice Taylor, children, Gay Taylor Capitani (Frank), Terry Taylor, Laurene Thompson (Albert Sr.), Melody DeTullio (David), Beatrice Loetell (Carl), Lawrence Taylor (Janice). Grandchildren, Stacy Humeny(Al), Lance Taylor (Kim), Charity Giovanelli, Melody Mann (Dylan), Ty Bowen, Kandis Shaw (Tony), Al Thompson Jr(Christy), Adam Thompson (Michele), Andrew Thompson(Katie), Michelle Boland (Brandon), David DeTullio, Emily & Elly Taylor. Also 16 great grandchildren and 1 great, great grand-daughter, 1 sister, Peggy Champion of Florida. Services will be private. A celebration of his life will be held at a later time for immediate family. In lieu of flowers memorial donations can be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.