Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1904-12-07
A NOBLE WOMAN DEPARTED.

slstor Elmma s. Taylor has departed.
There is mourning In the circle Of her
immediate friends and throughout all
the homes OF Zion she will be missed
ms friend o counselor mother. And
yet the feelings Of grief and sorrow are
tempered with Joy that another faIth.
ful Saint OF the Most High has gained
the victory and is gone 10 obtain hei
eternal reward, For our views are not
limited by the grave, We comprehend
TO some oxtont that which Is beyond.
And we know, too that a lie such az
that Of sister Taylor rs an everlasting
blessing
Elmlna Shepherd Taylor was Of Puri-
tan ancestry Of the best type OF thur
sturdy Intellectual and spiritual people.
sho was born Sept Y 1880, In Mid
dlonold, Otsego Co., n, v, and studied
az the Ladies Seminary, Hartwch, o.
sego Co., N. g., she commenced teach
Ing school when only sixteen She was
thus engaged In Haverstraw when she
met George II Taylor who was a
young carpenter and builder IN that
section Of the country
II was here, too, that the other most
important event OF her HE occurred;
Tor here the Gospel message found her
and on the nth Of July 1866, she was
baptized, Sho was married Aug. 81,
1856. to Elder George Hamilton ToyloC
by Elder-later Presldcnt-John Taylor
who was an intimate friend. but not re-
lated.
Enduring the usual persecution whlth
followed baptism into the dospsed
Mormon Church. she came out from
her people, the only one OF them all TO
receive the truth hut how strange
is this life, far stranger than
any work Of fiction Her loved
father and mother and her two
sisters, later followed her to
Utah, and although not one Of them
ever received tho Gospel yet they
dwelt near her and indeed her hus-
bands roof sheltered her parents until
their death many years after
Sister Taylor was not only q model
housekaeper and a devoted home
maker, she found time, even In the
early days, TO 60 out IN a public ca
pacIty. She was appointed secre-
tary OF the Fourteenth Ward Relief So
clety on Dec. 70, 1867 and held that Of
flce for years after being called to the
more exalted position she has since
occupied,
whea the early work Of the y b. Nj
l. A. was consolidated into one organ
igation In 1885, Sister Taylor was
chosen, under the direction Of Presi-
dent John Taylor and by the counsel
and choice Of Sister Eliza r. Snow 10
net as president Of that association
Marqaret Y. Taylor and Matte Horne
Tlngey we're chosen as her counse'ors'
Sister Taylor resigned two years la'eF
and sister Maria Y Dougall was select
ed 10 All the vacancy. At first the az
sociauon numbered only hundreds, but
sister Taylor lived to direct and guide
n until today over 10000 are enrolled
on rs books
She has Travelled, spoken and written
Tor "a years and has called to her aid
n band OF devoted and earnest women
who have felt II a liberal education TO
be assooiated with this Latter-day ne"
rome She was an eloquent speaker
and a clear. terso writer. But her
greatest gift was her supreme executive
ability. which neither age nor ever
increasing weakness could dull nor
blight. She was a leader, no less py
power divine, than by appointment Oh
authority. When one contemplales
such lives such characters as THIS
and that Of others who have
laid the foundations of this lat
tcr.day marvellous work and a
wonder. one cannot but eXclalm
a. their passing There we're giants IN
those days"
We sympathizo with the family ana
friends Of the departed sister but we
also realize that they are comforted IN
the knowledge Of happy reunion SIS
ter Taylor has LETT us. But she has
given AN example worthy Of imitation
m a noble, useful faithful and loving
NE. She has accomplished a work that
cannot die.