Larae Durfee Taylor Obituary (1919 - 2014)

LaRae Durfee Taylor 1919 - 2014 LaRae was born Dec. 1, 1919, in Almo, Idaho. She was the seventh of twelve children, of Lorenzo Durfee, and Anna Abby Bruesch Durfee. LaRae was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She spent most of her childhood on the family ranch in Almo, and was educated in the local schools. She attended Albion High School until she had to drop out for a year to work at home when her father was severely injured which resulted in his death later that spring. She returned and finished high school after that year off, graduating from Raft River High School in Malta in 1939. She later earned a teaching degree from the Albion State Normal School in 1941. In her senior year at the normal school she met and soon married Alva Eugene Williams, an instructor in the Civilian Conservation Corps. From that union, two daughters, Pat and Jeanne, were born nine years apart. During this period they lived in Idaho, Oregon, Missouri, and Utah. She and Alva were divorced in 1954. Prior to the divorce, in 1951, LaRae had begun teaching at the Neighborhood House in Salt Lake City. She continued to work there for twelve years. As a single mother of two she needed additional income. Her older sister, Naomi Reed, taught her how to retouch negatives. LaRae applied that skill part time until 1963, and then began retouching negatives full-time for several local photography studios, until she retired in 1982. Following her divorce from Alva, she remarried and divorced twice, to Lonnie Young and Don Taylor. She continually lived in Salt Lake City, less short-term periods in Virginia, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Hawaii, to help her girls with their families. For the last ten years of her life she lived with Pat, and not far from Jeanne. She loved her family and was grateful she could be close to most of them. LaRae had a tough life, but she was very caring and loving, always helping and giving of herself to others. She positively influenced many lives, and will be greatly missed. LaRae was preceded in death by her parents and ten siblings, and leaves behind her daughters, Patricia Ann Baldwin (Clark) and Lyda Jeanne Evans (David); sister, Bernus Durfee Waite; ten grandchildren and thirty great-grandchildren. Graveside services will be held at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014 at Evergreen Memorial Park, 100 Monroe Blvd. A viewing will be held prior from 11a.m. to 12 p.m. at Myers Ogden Mortuary, 845 Washington Blvd. VisitationMyers Mortuary - Ogden 100 Monroe Blvd. Ogden, UT 84404 December 11, 2014 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM CemeteryMyers Evergreen Memorial Park 100 Monroe Blvd. Ogden, UT 84404 December 11, 2014 12:30 PM ServiceGraveside , December 11, 2014 12:30 PM