Obituary: Taylor, Lee Gordon
He was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, and friend.
Lee was born on May 8, 1928, in Chicago, Illinois, the eldest of four children, to Frank and Gelena (Thompson) Taylor.
The family moved around during his youth following employment for Frank, but Gelena and the children finally settled in Havre, Montana, in 1939.
Lee quit high school in 1945 at the age of 17 and joined the Navy.
He served as a machinist mate on five different ships and was discharged in 1949.
During his duty in the Brooklyn (New York) Navy Yard in 1947, he met and started dating Adelaide “Addie” F. Schubert whom he met at a roller skating rink on Long Island.
They corresponded over the next several years as Lee earned his high school GED in Havre, Montana.
He then decided to return to New York in 1951 and was hired by Republic Aviation as a final assembly mechanic.
On August 2, 1952, Lee and Addie were married and moved to Babylon, Long Island.
Four of their six children were born in New York.
Lee, Addie, and the family returned to the Northwest in 1957, staying a short time in Havre, a year in Coeur d’Alene, and then finally settling in Careywood in 1959.
Lee worked for the Potlatch Lumber Mill in Coeur d’Alene until 1967.
Lee purchased the 167-acre Careywood farm in 1959 for $11,000 and started out with a $50 tractor and one Guernsey cow.
His mechanical ingenuity repaired and overhauled many pieces of old farm equip- ment, and he soon had a working farm with cattle, pigs, chickens, a huge garden, plentiful hunting, and six kids.
He logged part of the property for several years and then started the Triple T (tree) Nursery with two of his sons in 1976.
The farm animals, hay fields, and logging were eventually replaced by tree planting, pruning, and digging.
The Triple T Nursery trees are well-known in Moscow, Idaho, as the primary source of Christmas trees for the annual St. Mary’s School fundraiser.
Lee retired from the family business in 1990.
Lee had many talents: mechanical, electronics, artistic, welding, lathe work, innovative designs, and creative inventions.
In his early years he drew and painted, particularly figures from the old West.
He designed and carved the gun stocks of several of his rifles and loved electronics, so he took a course at Spokane Community College in 1969 and built his own ham radio.
When the wood furnace in the house needed replacing, he designed a new and better one, built it, and installed it.
He learned to play a harmonica “by ear,” and his children fondly remember him playing it to them as youngsters.
In his recent retirement years, he loved to collect and fix up old Mercedes-Benz automobiles.
He had four vehicles which he got operational, and, of course, one was always on hand for spare parts to fix the others.
He was an avid reader of nonfiction and loved news shows of all kinds and was well-informed on world events, the economy, and politics.
He is survived by his wife, Addie, of 61 years at the family farm; his children Mike Taylor of Murray, Idaho; Kathleen Taylor of Sagle, Idaho; Maureen Taylor Regan (spouse Don) of Moscow, Idaho; Eric Taylor (spouse Mary) of Careywood; Tim Taylor (spouse Julie) of Onaway, Idaho; and Trish Taylor Ponappa (spouse Tilak) of Kodagu, India; 10 grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; and his brother Wayne Taylor of Challis, Idaho.
He was preceded in death by his parents and two sisters, Eileen Earle and Rhoda Burke.
Memorial donations in his honor may be made to Union Gospel Mission (196 W. Haycraft Ave., Coeur d’Alene, ID 83815); KSPS Public Television (3911 S. Regal St., Spokane, WA 99223); or a veterans’ organization of your choice.
Visitation will be Friday, June 27, from 2:00 to 7:00 PM at English Funeral Chapel in Coeur d’Alene.
The funeral service will be Saturday, June 28, 11:00 AM at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Coeur d’Alene with burial at St. Thomas Cemetery.
ENGLISH FUNERAL CHAPEL of Coeur d’Alene has been entrusted to handle final arrangements.
Please visit Lee’s online memorial at www.englishfuneralchapel.com.