Dessie Bass Taylor, 82, rural Walnut, died Sunday, April 5, 2009 at the Prairie Mission Retirement Village in St. Paul. She had been in failing health.

She was born May 25, 1926 in rural Stark, to Roy and Myrtle Olson Bass. She attended Walnut High School and graduated from the Savonburg High School. She attended Chanute Junior College and Pittsburg State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in education. Later she took courses from the University of Kansas.

Taylor began her teaching career in the school year of 1945-46 at the Schellenbarger Country School. She taught third grade at the Erie Elementary School for 33 years, retiring in 1988.

She was a member of the Erie Christian Church, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the American Legion Auxiliary at Walnut, the 8 and 40 and the Red Hattitudes.

On Feb. 24, 1946 she and Donald M. Taylor were married at the Methodist Church in Walnut. They celebrated their 60th anniversary in 2006.

Survivors include her husband, Donald M. Taylor, of the home; two sons, Don Taylor, Jr. and his wife, Debi, Erie, Ken Taylor and his wife, Glenda, Walnut; two daughters, Julia Johnson and her husband, Pat, Erie, Joyce Fields, Westphalia; 12 grandchildren; 24 great-grandchildren; a sister, Eleda Bird, Erie.

Preceding her in death was a granddaughter, Robin Buntin, and a sister, Elsie Carlson.

Funeral will be 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 8 at the Erie Christian Church. Burial will be in the Mt. Moriah Cemetery, north of Stark. The family will receive friends at the Pierce-Carson-Wall Funeral Home in Erie from 6 to 8 p.m. this evening. The casket will be at the Prairie Mission Chapel in St. Paul from 2 to 3 p.m. today to provide a time of visitation for the residents.

Memorials are suggested to the Dessie Taylor Scholarship Fund. They may be left at or mailed to the funeral home at Box 182, Erie, KS 66733