Juanita Cooke Taylor, 88, of Vero Beach, passed away peacefully in her sleep at her family home on Nov. 21, 2014.
She is survived by her loving husband of 67 years, Harvey Taylor; sons Ed Taylor of Vero Beach and David (Pilar) Taylor of Boca Raton; daughter Elaine of Decatur, Ga.; grandchildren Julia Taylor Green of Atlanta, Ga., and Andrew Taylor of Boca Raton; and niece Sandra Sue Thomas of Climax, Ga.
She was predeceased by her parents, George Grady Cooke and Esther Hollis Cooke; her brothers Bernard Cooke and Ralph Cooke; her nephew Jeff Cooke and her daughter-in-law Linda Taylor.
Taylor was born on Oct. 15, 1926, in the Kinsey community near Dothan, Ala. She attended local schools and graduated as Miss Houston County High School and Salutitorian in 1945, then graduated from Campbell Business College in 1946. She married her high school sweetheart, Harvey Taylor, in 1947.
After giving birth to her first child in 1951, the young family moved to Florida and settled in Vero Beach in 1958. She remained a resident of Vero Beach until her death with a summer residence near Blowing Rock, N.C.
Taylor worked as a homemaker and mother until her youngest child entered elementary school in 1969 when she began working as a part-time bookkeeper for several businesses in Vero Beach. She worked for numerous years for the Indian River County Planning and Zoning Department where she retired in 1986 in order to care for her invalid mother.
She was a devout Christian and spent many years as an active member of the First Baptist Church of Vero Beach where she taught Sunday School and was a leader of the Girl’s Auxilary and the Women’s Missionary Union. In her later years, she and her husband became active members of King’s Baptist Church in Vero Beach and Laurel Fork Baptist Church in Boone, N.C.
Family visitation and a memorial service will be held at King’s Baptist Church on Monday, Nov. 24, with visitation beginning at 4 p.m. and the service commencing at 5 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations be made to the King’s Baptist Church Building Fund, 3235 58th Avenue, Vero Beach, FL 32966 in Juanita Taylor’s name.
