Sally was the daughter of Ernest Mason Taylor and Ada Lee Kinker Taylor and one of ten full and half-siblings. She grew up as a sharecropper on a small farm in Bracey, Virginia and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Education from Longwood College. After graduation, she moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia to begin her teaching career where she met a “Yankee Catholic Sailor” and the love of her life, Paul Edward Flach, at a USO dance. Paul and Sally were married just six months after their meeting in 1966 and stayed together until his passing in 2000. Sally taught for more than three decades and took continuous joy in celebrating the success of her students. She taught for all but one of those years at Shelton Park Elementary in the Lake Shores neighborhood where she lived and was particularly passionate about teaching science.
Sally retired to Elizabeth City, North Carolina to live with her son and his family where she was surrounded by her granddaughters, grand pups, and the view of Nature that she loved so much. Her favorite pastimes in retirement were watching her granddaughters grow, the dogs play in the backyard, and the wild animals passing by her window.
In addition to her husband, Paul, Sally was preceded in death by her sister Mildred Johnson, half-siblings Ernest J., Lowndes, Elvin Taylor, and Rodessa Taylor King. Left to honor her memory are her son Paul Anthony “Tony” Flach, his wife Michelle and their daughters Taylor and Lauren. She is also survived by her brothers Bobby and wife LaBinda, Jimmy and wife Nancy, and Billy Taylor, and her sister Mary Lee and husband G.W. Baker as well as numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. She is also survived by members of her husband’s family including sisters-in-law Janet and her husband Tim Maher, Jeanie and her husband Marc McKim, Mitzi Welch, and brothers-in-law Terry and his wife Nancy Flach and Monsignor Tom Flach.
The family will receive friends on Tuesday, October 19 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Rosewood-Kellum Funeral Home where a Celebration of Life will be Wednesday, October 20, at 2:00 p.m. Interment will follow at Rosewood Memorial Park.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks those wishing to honor Sally’s memory consider a donation to the American Cancer Society (https://donate3.cancer.org/) or a gift to the Longwood University Foundation’s Longwood Fund (at https://give.longwood.edu/18/donate and enter Sally’s name in the additional information portion of the form).
Friends may offer condolences at www.kellumfuneralhome.com
