Walter A. Taylor Sr.

COLUMBIA - A memorial service for Walter Allen “Butch” Taylor, Sr., 79, will be held at 1:00 p.m. Friday, July 21, 2017 at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church. The family will receive friends from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 20, 2017, at the church. Mr. Taylor passed away Tuesday, July 18, 2017. Born in Columbia on September 14, 1937, he was a son of the late Walter James “Shine” Taylor and Margaret Hoover Taylor. Walter was a 1955 graduate of Olympia High School, played in the 1954 Shrine Bowl, and was also a bat boy for the Columbia Reds. He was a graduate of the University of South Carolina and Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary. He retired from the Budget & Control Board of South Carolina, where he served as director of Surplus Properties. He was a member of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, where he was President of the church council for two terms and of Pacific Masonic Lodge #325 and was President of National Association of Surplus Properties. Walter was a man who loved his friends and family, and if you ever got a nickname from him, you knew were truly loved. Surviving are his wife, Janet Jaco Taylor; children, Ricky Alton Taylor (Michelle) of Gloucester, Va., Zachary Jaco Taylor (Ashleigh) of Columbia, and Misty Laine Baxter (Raymond) of Columbia; grandchildren, Nicky, Barbie (Scott), Kayela (Michael), Trevor, Blaine, Brittany, Shane, Jaden, Chloe, Fiona; great-grandchildren, Leia, Lilo, and Thomas; and sister, Louie Taylor Lucas. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his son, Walter Allen Taylor, Jr.; daughter, Karen Elizabeth Taylor Dean; granddaughter, Theresa Rose; brothers, Charles Alton Taylor, Harold Norman Taylor, and Robert Steven Taylor; and sisters, Doris Taylor Huffstetler, Jessie June Taylor Rutland, Sara Ann Taylor, and Christy Taylor French. Memorials may be made to St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, 1127 Olympia Avenue, Columbia, SC 29201. Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the family. Please sign the online guestbook at www.dunbarfunerals.com.