Rayoleen Taylor was born in Miami, Ariz. Sept. 24, 1918. Her father was a miner, but soon moved to Phoenix to work as a firefighter for Phoenix Fire Station number one.
She attended Phoenix Union High School where she met Willard Taylor. The two married in 1937 after graduation and moved to Payson, Ariz. where Willard worked for the Game and Fish, located then near Kohl’s Ranch. He was transferred to Roosevelt Lake and after three years, the couple moved back to Phoenix where Willard would spend the next 30 years working for the Phoenix Fire Department.
Maintaining a love of Payson, they returned in the 1970s after Willard’s retirement, where he became Payson’s second mayor and Rayoleen became active with the hospital auxiliary, historical society, civic clubs and the Methodist Church.
She passed May 5, 2015 and is survived by her daughter, Lynn Hanna and her husband, John Hanna of Payson; and son, Allen Taylor of Salem, OR.; two grandsons, Mark and Mike Hanna; and four great-grandchildren, Hailey and Hunter Hanna of Phoenix, and Jake and Karlee Hanna of Temecula, Calif.
A celebration of her life will be held at Messinger’s Mortuary in Payson at 11 a.m., Saturday, May 23.
The family will always be grateful for the love and care Rayoleen received from the staff at the Powell Place and Rim Country Health. Rayoleen will be remembered for a life fully lived and a love fully given.
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Obituary for Rayoleen Taylor
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