renal cell carcinoma. He bravely fought the disease under the care of his doctors for over a
year but succumbed to congestive heart failure. Don was preceded in death by his parents,
Annie Elizabeth Glidewell and Almus Aaron Taylor, and his first wife, Elizabeth Erin Gann Taylor.
He was born on September 23, 1939 in Newbern, TN. When Don was a baby, his family moved
to Memphis and Don remembered a story about when his mother weened him off his bottle
and said that a big black dog that lives down the street got his bottle and ran off with it.
Don was a person of character and energy. After he retired from The Commercial Appeal in
2001, he started working part time for Jim Keras Nissan and Dobbs Ford until 2017. In the 80s,
he and his wife, Carol, bowled. During the 90s, they started running and ran with the Bartlett
Runners as well as the Memphis Runners and Track Club and even trained to do a halfmarathon.
They enjoyed going out of town for races and every year made a bus trip to New
Orleans with the Bartlett Runners to participate in the Crescent City Classic 10k.
Don leaves his devoted wife of 38 years, Carol, and his beloved daughters, Debra Taylor
Cottingham and Garland “Julie” Hedgecoke. He is also survived by his beautiful
granddaughters, Kristen Talley (Kameron), and Lindsey Cottingham, both of whom were the
lights of his life.
Another passion of Don’s was rescuing dogs and sometimes cats off the streets before they
wound up in trouble. Don and Carol would try to reunite the animals with their owners, and
when that was unsuccessful, they would keep the “rescues” for their own. Throughout their
marriage, they took in numerous pets that needed the care, love, and attention they had to
give, and as Don would say, “make babies out of them.”
Visitation will be Sunday, July 22 at 12 p.m. with services following at 2 p.m. at Family Funeral
Care, 4925 Summer Ave., Memphis. Refreshments will be furnished so bring your appetites
and plenty of tissues.
In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to the Animal Shelter or Memphis Humane Society.
