A TRIBUTE BY DIANE TAYLOR INGRAM TO HER MOTHER,
EVA TAYLOR DECEMBER 25, 2009

I was the last of Mom's family to see her alive and. hear her speak. Dad had been with her for some time as he did every day. He told her he was leaving and told her that he loved her she whispered "I love you"

I arrived a few minutes after he left and would stay until she went to sleep for the night. I sang some hymns to her and she would in a whisper sing them with me. I begin to sing, "there is a sweet sweet spirit in this place." She said, "I see Jesus." I said, "where?" She said, there." Her eyes were toward the foot of her bed . I was standing at the head of the bed. I asked her what He looked like, and she said, "white."

When I returned home that evening , I called Dad and told him what had happened. We both wondered if Jesus had appeared to let her know that all was well and she would soon be with him.

At two thirty the next morning her nurse called me to tell me that Mom was absent from her body and present with the Lord, July 29, 2009

Dad has shared with me that a couple of days before that he had quoted Psalm 23 to her and then asked her if he got it right. She told him he had. He had also discussed the verse with her. "Thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me." Mom was a real student of the Bible. She could quote much of it. Even though she was weak, she still could remember verses.

Many people have and have had great mothers. Robin and I had one of the greatest. Dad had a beautiful and loving pastor's wife.

Before she weakened, when he would come into her room at the hospital and later at the rest home, she would say. "there comes my sweet heart." I was with her and she was expecting Dad any moment, since he had called me and told me he was on his way. She told me she wanted to surprise him. When he arrived she started singing to him, "Let me call you sweetheart for I am in love with you." Of course he told her he loved her then kissed her on her brow.

Mom had a beautiful soprano voice, I sing alto. she and I would sing duets on many occasions, at home, churches, and on one mission trip to Jamaica. Her favorite song that we would sing was, "My God and I." In the rest home, before she became so weak, we would sing it to Dad and some of her nurses. Her voice is silent on earth. but not in heaven.

A TRIBUTE BY ROBIN TAYLOR BOWERS TO HER MOTHER,
EVA TAYLOR December 25, 2009

This is my tribute to my Mom who passed away July 29, 2009. I can remember the holidays as being very special in our home. There were a lot of decorations all through the house, some which Mom had made herself. She was always baking, and delicious smells would permeate the house. Mom would make a special fruit cake called Franklin Nut Cake. Now I am not a big fan of fruit cakes, but this was good. I would say that the crusty bottom of the cake was okay. I would pick the crust which was left in the pan while it was still warm. Mom never scolded me, because she was doing the same.

Besides the excitement of Christmas, there was Mom and Dad's anniversary on Christmas Eve. Mom would prepare a special meal. She preferred to stay at home rather than go out since it was Christmas Eve. She said all the workers at the restaurants were so grumpy because they were having to work on Christmas Eve. She would set the table with her pretty table cloth and fine china. Candles were lit and an album with Hawaiian music was put on the record player. After dinner Mom and Dad would exchange anniversary gifts, and Diane, my sister and I were allowed to open one of our Christmas gifts. Later in the evening we would hang our stockings on a chair since we did not have a fire place. We went to bed with great expectations of what Santa would bring.

The next morning would bring the excitement of what Santa had left. And to see how pleased Dad and Mom were at what we received. We never had a lot of extra money. It did seem we always received just what we wanted for Christmas somehow.

So this is the first Christmas without my Mom. I miss sharing with her the things going on in my life here in Colorado. She was always so interested. Mom always loved to hear about the cute things that the grandkids and great grand kids had done. Although she was suffering from Alzheimer Disease there were times when we could still talk to each other by phone or when I would visit her.

This year Mom spends her first Christmas in heaven. Even though we miss her so much, it will only be a little while before we will be re-united. So Mom, Merry Christmas!

A TRIBUTE TO EVA TAYLOR by Her Husband, Bill

Words fail me as I try to give honor to my faithful and loving wife of over 60 years before the Lord called her home. "Absent from the body, present with the Lord". It would take many pages to describe our loving relationship for all those years. The mother of our two daughters, Diane and Robin. The grandmother of four, and great grandmother of three.

When I approached the booth at the Collegiate Grill in Gainesville, GA where she and my cousin Christine Cantrell were eating lunch. My life was going to make a dramatic change for the better. I asked Christine to introduce me to her friend . She said, "This is Eva Satterfield and this is my cousin, Billy Taylor."

It was love at first sight. She was such a beautiful lady and so reserved. I soon after, asked her for a date. And we attended the county fair on our first date. We began to date every week. She was only sixteen when I first met her. Her father had died on her eleventh birthday.

I was her first date, she had never dated anyone. She had no desire to date anyone after we met, nether did I. I knew in my heart that I had found the person that I wanted to be my wife.

During the basketball season I was playing basketball for one of the textile mills and she would go with me to the games and after the games we were able to spend time together.

I remember she and I, along with her girl friend from where she worked went fishing and she got a fish hook caught in the seat of her dungarees. She was so embarrassed.

I proposed to her seated in my car in the front yard in front of her home. When she said yes many tears were shed. No doubt that she had been expecting me to do so.

We were married on December 24th, 1947. She was seventeen and I was twenty-one. She did not realize that six years later she would be a pastor's wife. Neither did I visualize that I would be a pastor. But God knew that we needed each other. He brought us together and gave us a great ministry. She kept the fires at home burning, especially when I was away in revivals, she visited with me in hospitals and homes. She supported me in my ministry, winning many children to Christ.

Upon my graduation from seminary, the seminary honored her and all the wives of graduating students with a banquet and conferred on them a PHT degree, Put Hubby Through. While I was a student she was able to audit several classes wherein I was enrolled.

Here is what some others have written about Eva ...

"I was only about 9 years old when Eva and Bill lived near us. I loved Eva so much. She would let me hold her baby, Diane. She was always so kind. If there was only one word I could use for Eva, it would be SWEET. I thought she was one of the most beautiful ladies I had ever seen, but then she always was." Marjorie Castleberry - Cumming Georgia ( Bill's First Cousin) XXX ³ I wish I had known Eva better, but the few times I was around her, I felt she was the kindest and most sincere gentle person I have ever known."

Gayle Birkmaier- Wingate, NC

"When Dan and I, along with our six months old little boy, Ryan, moved to Wingate, NC. My prayer was Lord just provide one person to encourage me. The next day Mrs. Taylor came and knocked on our door with a casserole welcoming us to the neighborhood. That was when I found out that the Lord had answered my prayer and provided a pastor and his wife, Eva. As next door neighbors. During the time we lived there, Eva and I became great friends. She taught me so much. She said, "I have the best husband in the world, and I know you have a wonderful husband also."

She was so encouraging to me as a mother and a wife. She was so selfless and kind. Such a beautiful lady. When my family moved to PA, our friendship did not stop, we talked often by phone.

I once shared with her about my parent's deaths and asked her what she thought heaven would look like. She said, "I don't know but I think it will beyond our imagination, and perfect." That brings great comfort to me, knowing she is without sickness and with the Lord."

Linda Polto-Lititz, PA