Danny Taylor

Danny Craig Taylor was born on August 13, 1955 in Odessa, Texas to Dellon Gwendolyn (Burks) and Aaron Griffin Taylor. A gentle spirit, Dan was the most deeply caring, patient, hardworking, resilient, loving, and kind person. He had an innate ability to make you feel calm, capable of accomplishing anything you set your mind to, and he had a genuine connection with God his creator.

His intelligence and brilliant memory was so unassuming from the humble person Dan was. He was sensitive in the best way, and felt deeply for his friends and family. Never meeting a stranger, he went out of his way to help other people because he believed that doing so made the world a better place. He also held deep convictions about doing the right thing, and the content of his character shined in every chapter of his life. Dan also never had a mean bone in his body - he rarely disliked anyone, but ifhe did, he was incredibly restrained even in the face of injustice. He believed in the good and potential in all people, and the world lost someone indescribably special when he passed away tragically, after complications from a gallbladder removal surgery, on his 69th birthday. For his family, they lost the world.

Growing up, Danny was a quiet, intelligent kid who flourished in school, was artistically gifted, and tagged along with his older brother and protector, Jeff. They loved going hunting for squirrels and possums, played in Little League together, and were quite close to many of their cousins (as their mom was one of thirteen children). Jeff has a particularly fond memory of the brothers climbing up on the roof of their aunt and uncle's house to throw water balloons at cars as little kids. At one point, Danny rescued a pair of ground squirrels he named Napoleon and Josephine, and he had a favorite parakeet named Tweety. Danny also loved the numerous dogs he had growing up, building a special love for the intelligence and athleticism of German Shepherds. Danny was talented at foreign languages as well, learning German and Spanish in addition to some phrases in French. He graduated Odessa High School in 1973, after excelling at and competing in choir and chorale due to his beautiful tenor voice (something he would participate in for the rest of his life).

The first person in his family to attend and graduate from college, he attended Del Mar College in Corpus

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Christi, Texas, where he earned his AA degree in History and Government in 1977 (National History Honor Society and Phi Alpha Theta). He then earned his BA in History, Government and Business from the University of Texas of the Penni an Basin in 1980, graduating with honors. At UTPB, he was a recipient of the W .D. Noel Scholarship and the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Study Grant. Dan also made life­long friends and studied the Bible at Ambassador Bible College in Pasadena, California.

Dan held many jobs over the course of his life, ranging from a veterinary assistant in his youth, painting houses in the hot Texas heat, working for Ford Motor Credit (yielding in some funny, some adventurous tales of repossessing cars in dicey situations), working as a writer and editor for his church's publications (which

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resulted in impressive intenational travel for Dan and honed his talent for writing and capturing an audience), and a career of working in the tech industry. His foray into the latter field began with a job working in customer support at Dell Computer Company in the mid-nineties; a nearly nine-year stint working for Intel Corporation managing massive projects, graphic artists, presentations and events, and so much more; and over nine and a half years at Cisco Systems where he excelled as a marketing program manager. He won dozens of awards and was admired and respected by his colleagues and employees alike, many of whom have described Dan as the

"best boss I ever had".

Over the course of his life, he started a family of his own with his wife, Corinne (Loupiac): Christiane and Cameron. He was an incredible father, and somehow found the time to help with homework, eat dinner at the table with his family every night, show up to his childrens' sporting or musical practices and events, and offer unlimited support and love despite his grueling (sometimes 80-hour) work-weeks. How he did it, we'll never know. He prioritized bringing his family on trips all over the world to expose them to different cultures, and was an impeccable travel planner. Sundays were for recruiting (read: commandeering) his children in his endless quest to maintain the family home, teaching them how to weed, mow grass, replace insect screens on windows, wash the cars, change a tire, rake leaves, and so much more to take care of and treasure what they had.

More than that, Dan was a stabilizing figure in the lives of his family members. He was incredibly gifted at fixing just about anything, answered the phone (day or night), was a shoulder to cry on, celebrated everyone's unique wins, and was a compassionate and unendingly encouraging leader of his family.

After getting out of the Silicon Valley, Dan returned to the hometown he loved so dearly, Odessa. Despite being in his early 60's, he purchased a family home that had been abandoned for over a decade, tore it down to brass tacks, and rebuilt it to create the simple dream home he always wanted in a sentimental location. He was most recently a devoted and beloved pastor to the Lubbock congregation of the United Church of God.

Dan leaves behind his wife, Corinne; his son, Cameron; his daughter and son-in-law, Christiane and Marco Lancieri, and his baby grandson Malcolm Lancieri (who he adored); his big brother, W. Jeffrey Taylor

(Cynthia); his niece and nephew, Karen Montoya and Brian Taylor; his sister, Marian McQuary Martin

(Howard); his nephews and niece Alex, Nico and Madison Bueno; his brothers-in-law and sister-in-law George Hatch, Dana Hatch, and Veronica Fuller and their families; and a host of extended family and friends.

Dan will forever be remembered for the profoundly good man that he was. Though we cannot capture the richness, immeasurable value, and unending love Danny added to our lives in a simple obituary, we know he has unquestionably earned a peaceful rest and is in the palm of God's hand. We will never, ever forget you.

A service will be held to celebrate Dan's memory on September 15, 2024 from noon to five pm at the Odessa Marriott in Odessa, Texas.

In lieu of flowers, and with the importance that education played in Danny's life and value's, donations can be made in his memory to the University of Texas of the Permian Basin: donations in memory of Danny C. Taylorcan be sent to 4901 E. University Blvd, Mesa Building Room #4230 Odessa, TX 79762