Richard “Dick” Nelson Taylor, age 91 of Nelsonville passed away peacefully in his home Wednesday April 7th, 2021. Dick was born on November 27, 1929 in Buchtel, to the late Paul and Flora Taylor. Survived by his loving wife Susie, daughter Debby, sons Rick (Debbie) and Brett (Lori) Taylor, grandchildren Renee (Carl) Perry, Rochele (Scott) Bowlby, Bretta (Shakim) and Colt (Molle) Taylor, great grandchildren Justin and Ben Perry, Briele and Braylon Bowlby, Jon and Huntlee O’Rourke, and his sisters Mercedes Stone and Sandra Burdiss.
Dick Taylor dedicated his life to his work, family, and friends. Dick started his first job peddling papers and at the age of 11 he had saved enough money to buy a Ford Model-T for $6, fixed it up and sold it for $15. Dick worked all throughout his school years doing several odd jobs including a bowling alley setting up pins in Freemont, Ohio, the Nelsonville Eagles as a caller for bingo, and the Columbus Forge and Iron Company. After Dick graduated, he continued working on automobiles and landed a job at Beasley’s Ford garage as a mechanic in Nelsonville. Dick also worked as an aviation mechanic for North American and was sent to Pensacola, Florida for 6 weeks to work on jets for the air force. Dick was offered to fly out to California and Africa to continue working with North American but having a wife and children he declined the offer and stayed with Beasley’s as a manager over the Ford dealership. Dick was also part owner of Coker’s distributing where he worked as a general manager doing black label beer distributing, mechanical and office work.
With an obvious talent for mechanical work and love for automobiles Dick and his father Paul opened their own Texaco station where they worked on automobiles, pumped gas, sold tires, and had a stock car driven by Red Thomas at nearby speedways. The Texaco station was sold after 5 years when Dick was offered a service manager position in Marion Riggs Ford in Logan, Ohio. Dick ventured back into having his own business with his wife which led him to open his Taylor’s East End Carry Out, Taylor’s Auto Sales and Taylor’s Body Shop & Garage where he worked on automobiles at his home in Nelsonville. Dick became a well-known mechanic and boss man in Southeast Ohio. The Nelsonville school district hired Dick on as the transportation supervisor over the bus garage where he worked until he retired.
Dick had countless accomplishments including bowling and winning numerous championships all over Ohio and pitching in a local horseshoe league. He enjoyed throwing money into polls for nascar, basketball, football, and baseball and enjoyed playing darts, cornhole, card games, golf, pool, and the lottery. He enjoyed camping, cooking, berry picking, cruising around, taking care of his grandchildren, and making friends. Every Monday Dick had get-togethers where he spent the evening with his family and friends. Dick dedicated his life to work and bettering the life for his family and all of those around him.
Public visitation was held between 11:00 am – 1:00 pm on Friday April 9, 2021 at the Warren-Brown Funeral Home, Nelsonville, Ohio. Funeral services started at 1:00pm and burial followed at Greenlawn Cemetery, Nelsonville, Ohio. The family request in leu of flowers, please make donations to the Ohio Health Hospice of Athens for their amazing care of Dick.
Dick is loved by many and will be greatly missed.