BROOKHAVEN — A former Webster County resident recently received recognition from the state of Mississippi for turning 100.
Velma Love Taylor, daughter of the late Irvin and Ollie Love, grew up in Eupora. She had two brothers, Marvin and Maloy.
When Taylor Hardware and Dry Goods in Eupora needed a student clerk, one of the teachers recommended Velma. That’s where she met Bill Taylor, whom she married in 1939.
They later moved to McComb, where Bill owned and operated a Western Auto store; then in 1943 he bought 200 acres in Brookhaven and began farming. Bill operated both a dairy and a beef enterprise there for 25 years. He also sold Tennessee walking horses.
The couple, along with their two sons, Jim and Harry, were featured on Jackson’s WLBT as a Farm Family of the Week in 1956. Bill passed away and the farm is now primarily growing timber.
Cub Scout leader, member of the Garden Club, a sewing club and other local organizations, Mrs. Taylor helped establish the current kindergarten at Brookhaven First United Methodist Church. She also served as financial secretary and director of religious education at FUMC. Her impact on the community is felt today.
But the birthday celebration on March 23 focused more on the influence that Velma has had on her extended family. She began the tradition of summer family reunions with the idea that the children should know each other. And they do.
“No matter the time apart, we always pick up where we left off,” says granddaughter Lara Taylor, who is a nurse in St. Louis.
Her brother Trent, an attorney in Columbus, Ohio, laughs and says, “It’s a free place to stay when we go where each other lives!”
Mark Taylor, who lives in Birmingham, was on hand for the occasion and read the proclamation for the group before the cake cutting.
And their cousin Byron Wilkes, who works in Nashville, best described her as a Southern lady. “She’s the Southern lady everyone thinks of. She is the embodiment of hospitality, kindness and Christian spirit. She accepts everyone, just as Christ did.”
Sally Doty, the Mississippi senator who sponsored the resolution honoring Mrs. Taylor, says she is her role model.
“Just keep looking ahead and moving forward,” is the advice Mrs. Taylor offers for reaching the 100-year mark.
Her older son, Jim, and his wife, Christine, live in North Carolina, but her younger son, Harry, lives across the field from the big two-story house where Taylor resides. His wife, Lynn, is a retired nurse and between the two of them, they enable Taylor to remain at home.
Surrounded by an expansive lawn with camellias, azaleas, magnolias and cedars, and a big front porch it is the perfect home for a Southern lady. And one can almost hear the echoes of ballgames, croquet matches and go-carts from long-ago family reunions.
