Taylor, Mary Anna Fanning

Mary Anna Fanning Taylor, 84, of Blacksburg died Thursday, March 29, 2007, at Montgomery Regional Hospital. She was born January 14, 1923 in Miller, South Dakota.

Her parents were Joseph Clyde and Margaret Volkers Fanning. She attended a rural elementary school in St. Lawrence township and graduated in May 1941 from St. Lawrence High School. In May of 1945, she graduated from South Dakota State College (now University) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics Education and taught Home Economics the next year at Letcher, South Dakota.

On June 16, 1946 she married Lincoln Taylor of Virgil and Wolsey, South Dakota in the St. Lawrence Community Church. They lived in Elizabethtown, Kentucky for the next ten months, while Lincoln was in the Army at Fort Knox, Kentucky. From 1947 until 1951, they lived in Ames, Iowa, where Lincoln earned Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Agronomy at Iowa State College (now University). A daughter and a son were born there.

They moved to Orono, Maine in March 1951 where Lincoln was on the Agronomy Department Staff at the University of Maine. Two sons were born in Maine. In September 1955, they moved to Blacksburg, Virginia. Lincoln joined the staff of the Agronomy Department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. A daughter was born in Virginia.

Mary Anna was a member of Blacksburg Presbyterian Church. She was active in the Presbyterian Women and served in most of the offices including Moderator. She was a volunteer with the Headstart program for the first seven years of its operation in Blacksburg. She was a wife, mother, grandmother and homemaker.

Mary Anna is survived by daughter, Mary Davis, her husband, Jesse and their sons, Neon, of Sierra Vista, Arizona and Owen, in the Army in Germany; son, James, his wife, Michelle Trahan, their sons, Paul and James and their daughter, Margaret, all of Arlington, Virginia; son, Steven, his wife, Pat Butler and their daughter, Molly Butler, of Woodstock, Virginia; son, Martin, of Blacksburg; and daughter, Ann, of Houston, Texas. She is also survived by brother, Fred and wife, Evelyn Fanning and brother, Clyde Fanning, all of St. Lawrence, South Dakota; and a sister, Margaret Graham, of Huron, South Dakota. She is also survived by a brother-in-law and his wife, Cooley and Elda Taylor, of Rapid City, South Dakota and a sister-in-law, Alice Taylor, of Palmer, Alaska. Many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends also survive.

She was predeceased by her husband of 57 years, Lincoln, in March 2004; by her parents; a sister, Lurabell Gaspar and two infant sisters; a brother-in-law, Richard Graham, of Huron, South Dakota; and a brother-in-law, Roscoe Taylor, of Palmer, Alaska.

The family suggest that in lieu of flowers contributions be made in her memory to Blacksburg Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 144, Blacksburg, Va. 24063. A Memorial service will be conducted Monday, April 2, 2007 at 3 p.m. in the Blacksburg Presbyterian Church with the Rev. Alex Evans and the Rev. Susan Verbrugge officiating. The family will receive friends immediately following the service in the church fellowship hall. A private burial will be held in Westview Cemetery in Blacksburg, Va. Arrangements by McCoy Funeral Home, 150 Country Club Drive, Blacksburg.