Position:
English Faculty
Loren Taylor, an emeritus faculty member, died at the Windsor Care Center Wednesday, August 3, 1994. Services were held on Saturday, August 6, at the Kaiser-Corson Funeral Home in Cedar Falls.
Professor Taylor completed his B. A. degree in 1937 at the State University of Iowa where, in 1951, he was also awarded a Master of Fine Arts degree. He began teaching at this institution in 1954 when it was known as the Iowa State Teachers College. He retired in 1979 after twenty-five years of teaching in the areas of English and creative writing.
To some, Loren Taylor may have seemed shy and quiet, yet his warm devotion to his craft and discipline as well as to his students and colleagues was unstinting. Generous and kindly in sharing his experience, he was also imaginative in exploring the art of writing as an activity fundamental to our creative and intellectual life.
As an educator, Loren Taylor brought innovation and originality to the teaching of writing by using techniques associated with creative writing to expand and enrich the strategies of exposition. As a faculty member, his wry perspective on seeming institutional anomalies and waywardness was typically accompanied by a smile and a chuckle and was always salutary.
His curiosity and his gentle good nature remain especially memorable; his independence of mind and his discerning humor lent inimitable seasoning to our many varied endeavors. In short, his contributions were rare and special.
Loren Taylor was born October 11, 1914, in Oneida, Iowa. He is survived by his first wife, Vivian, of Waterloo, and his second wife, Mary, of Cedar Falls (from both of whom he was divorced), by his twin sister, Lorraine Fitzpatrick of Cedar Falls, and by a son, four daughters, and three grandchildren.
Memorials in the name of Loren Taylor may be sent to the Black Hawk Humane Society, 1166 W. Airline Highway, Waterloo, Iowa 50703.
Department of English Language and Literature
16 September 1994