Dortha Taylor

Gravesdie services  for Dortha Evelyn Rideout Taylor, 99, West Plains, Missouri, will be held at 10:00 a.m., Friday, May 31, 2019 at the Thayer Cemetery, Thayer, Missouri, under the direction of Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.

Mrs. Taylor passed away May 24, 2019, at Tucson, Arizona.

She was born January 10, 1920 in Glenpool, Oklahoma, to Thomas Henderson Rideout and Mary Jane Renfro Rideout.  Dortha’s elementary schooling was at the Red Ranch School, Howell County, Missouri. She began high school in Oklahoma and finished in Koshkonong, Missouri with the Class of 1939 as Valedictorian. She was a graduate of the Riveria Beauty College, Lebanon Missouri and also attended the University of Missouri and Cookeville Business College in Tennessee. On September 1, 1940 she was married at West Plains, Missouri, to Wellington Thomas Taylor, who preceded her in death April 17, 1993.   Dortha always enjoyed traveling and learning to do new things. She learned to paint in oils and water colors, to draw with pencil, to sew and to do needle work.  She and her husband did many craft projects together. Mrs. Taylor became a Christian in November, 1942, when she was baptized by G. K. Wallace in the Spring River at Mammoth Spring, Arkansas. She remained active in the Church of Christ as long as her health permitted and was a member of the Curry Street Church of Christ in West Plains.

She is survived by her son, Teddy Neal Taylor and wife, Elizabeth, Beavercreek Ohio and their children, Wendy Parks, Okeana Ohio and James Taylor, Warren Rhode Island, daughter, Jean Elaine Taylor Goforth and husband, John, of Berthoud Colorado and their children, Minuette Grentz, Layton, Utah and Alyssa Novak,  Longmont, Colorado, son Jackie Dean Taylor and wife, Cynthia, Tucson, Arizona and their children, Bradford Taylor, Dallas, Texas and Jessica Boyd, Gary North Carolina; twelve great-grandchildren; and one sister, Mabel Rideout Uhlmann, West Plains, Missouri.

Her parents, husband, four brothers Hurshal, Henry, Herbert and Robert Rideout, and three sisters, Gladys Davis, Mildred Hunter and Berta Rideout, preceded her in death.

Visitation will be from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m., Thursday, at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.  Memorial contributions may be made to Fair Haven Children’s Home or Curry Street Church of Christ, and may be left at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.