Longtime community activist Tom Taylor, 96, died in the early morning hours on Tuesday. He is remembered as a family man and a dedicated advocate for senior citizens.
For Taylor, evidence of a life well-lived was in abundance at his East Custis Avenue home, which was cluttered with photos of his 10 grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. As a longtime activist, Taylor held many titles: president of Chapter 818 of the American Association of Retired Persons, president of the Council of Alexandria Senior Citizen Organizations, member of the city's Retired Senior Volunteer Program and secretary of Del Ray Senior Citizens. For many years, he served as treasurer of Councilwoman Del Pepper’s many citywide campaigns.
“He was a sweetie pie,” said Pepper. “He was such a dear man, and I’ll miss him quite a great deal.”
Taylor was born on Sept. 7, 1910 in Beaufort, NC, a small town near the Outer Banks. William Howard Taft was president and gas cost nine cents a gallon. It was a bucolic life during a time when life moved more slowly, and Taylor would later spin yards about catching crabs for 10 cents a dozen and using the dime to catch a film at the local movie theater. Loretta Trout, Taylor’s niece, said that Taylor’s coastal childhood remained an important part of his life.
“He always loved to sit on the front porch and look out at the ocean,” said Trout. “I have a picture of him and my father sitting on the porch just watching the waves roll in from the Atlantic Ocean.”
When he turned 18, Taylor left Beaufort and moved to New York City to work in a pharmacy. He said that he loved working in the drug store, and spent his professional career working in various pharmacies. But the move to one of the world's biggest cities was a culture shock. In 1932, he married his first wife. Then, in 1941, the drug store he was working for transferred him to Norfolk.
In 1948, he was transferred again, this time to Washington, D.C. He started working for a pharmacy on the corner of 18th Street and G Street, just a few blocks from the White House. One of his most exciting days in that store was when two would-be assassins tried to shoot President Harry Truman. They missed the president, but bullets struck his drug store window as a window trimmer was installing a display. With his first marriage slowly dissolving, Taylor was transferred to Alexandria in 1950. He worked at the pharmacy on the corner of King Street and Washington Street.
"Alexandria was a small Southern town back then," Taylor remembered in a 2005 interview. "I knew all the people who would come into the drug store."
This was a time when drug stores had soda fountains, which were popular places for people to socialize. One woman who visited the fountain at Washington and King frequently got Taylor's attention. They struck up a friendship and soon started courting. Eventually, in 1957, they got married. The newlyweds lived in a house in the 2400 block of King Street.
TAYLOR RETIRED from the pharmacy business in 1972. He sold his house on King Street and moved back to North Carolina. But he and his wife missed Alexandria so much that they moved back, buying a house on East Custis Avenue in Del Ray. That's when Taylor became a city activist, advocating for seniors by taking leadership roles in the American Association of Retired Persons, the city's Retired Senior Volunteer Program, the Council of Alexandria Senior Citizen Organizations and the Del Ray Senior Citizens. An old issue of the Alexandria Packet illustrates Taylor's influence in the community.
"Realtors and apartment owners are driving poor and deprived seniors and the poor out of the city with excessive rentals," Taylor is quoted in a Dec. 29, 1986 story. "It is difficult to find a suitable apartment in a suitable area without paying $600 a month."
In the early 1980s, Mayor Charles Beatley introduced him to Del Pepper, who was then planning to run for City Council. Beatley suggested that Taylor work as Pepper's treasurer, and the two formed a lasting friendship. From 1985 to 2000, Taylor worked with Pepper through in six campaigns. But tragedy struck on April 19, 2000 when Kevin Shifflet was murdered while playing in Taylor’s front yard. Taylor withdrew from public life, but remained a popular figure in Del Ray.
“The people at the hospital said that they had never seen so many people come to visit anybody,” said Trout, his niece. “He was very charismatic, and I could never figure out what his secret was. His neighbors in Del Ray just adored him.”