Alice P. Taylor’s first Henderson home was later Barret High School
Frank Boyett | columnist
You know the identify from the Christmas live performance. But comparatively few folks dwelling at the moment keep in mind Mrs. Alice P. Taylor.
Much of what I find out about her is as a result of she was a household good friend of longtime Gleaner writer Leigh Harris. Leigh’s daughter, Francele Armstrong, wrote about her in her column a minimum of 4 instances: November 13, 1938; December 8, 1946; December 14, 1947; and May 26, 1959.
“In the years that I was growing up there wasn’t a Sunday that the Taylors weren’t at the Harris’ or the Harris’s weren’t at the Taylors,” she wrote in 1959, two days after Alice died of coronary heart issues on the age of 89.
Alice launched Francele Hugh to Edward Sandefur, which was the beginning of one other long-lasting friendship. “She was brilliant, thoughtful, outgoing, objective, compassionate, generous – and what she shared above all material things was herself. What a great lady.”
She was born in St. Louis on December 13, 1869 to George and Alice Augusta Partridge, who had been attention-grabbing folks in their very own proper. Both had been from New England however had met in Tuskegee, Alabama, the place he taught Greek and Latin at a university and she or he was the director of a ladies’s seminary.
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He was Provost Marshal throughout the Civil War and she or he was a nurse. Both had school educations. After the battle they moved to St. Louis the place they’d 4 daughters. (Fun reality: Alice had a twin sister named Grace.) Around the time their daughters had been youngsters, they moved to San Francisco, the place he tried his hand at being an oilman, editor, and lawyer. She was a instructor, lecturer and creator.
And Alice? She received a job as a instructor on the Round Valley Indian Reservation in Mendocino County, California, which she needed to attain through an 8-mile horseback trip. It was on this function that she met N. Powell Taylor, a brilliant younger man from Henderson who had gone West for well being causes. (He later turned one among Henderson’s most revered attorneys, serving as prosecutor, Commonwealth Attorney, and Senator.)
However, she gave up this educating place to review with Lizzie Parker Howell, “one of the best singing teachers in California”, on the finish of the 18th century. Alice constructed a decent profession as a church and live performance singer in San Francisco.
They married on December 14, 1897, and Francele’s column for that day in 1947 famous that they had been celebrating their fiftieth birthdaysth Anniversary on the Glass House Restaurant that day.
“It was a quiet wedding at home, for Alice’s mother, long an invalid, had died five weeks before the wedding.” Alice had promised her mom to not postpone the marriage – as a result of her mom felt a six-year engagement was greater than sufficient.
“In fact, Alice’s grief over giving up her career, her family, her friends in California and traveling to far away Kentucky had resulted in her losing 20 pounds before the wedding.”
Actually, the marriage does not sound so calm. “Eighty guests were present, the house was elaborately decorated and a French caterer served dinner. Music by artist friends followed.”
The couple then set off on what seemed to be a honeymoon in New Orleans earlier than N. Powell Taylor introduced his bride out west right here to Henderson to satisfy the locals. Their first dinner was on the home of his cousins Jo and Sallie Eakins, “and then the couple went to their temporary quarters in (a single room in) the old Adams house,” which later turned Barret Manual Training High School.
Then it was time to satisfy the entire household on the Taylor farm close to Zion on Christmas Day. About 25 of them had been gathered there and so they had been very interested by this “breezy, open-faced, friendly girl from the country beyond the Rockies. What would she be like?”
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If they expected her to be haughty, they were mistaken. She was more in awe of them for the beauty of the setting, the antiquities, the lavish dinner, and the warmth of their welcome.
“After dinner, the household gathered in the lounge and Alice received out her guitar and sang many songs for Powell’s individuals who would develop into her folks on this Kentucky.”
As Christmas Day drew to a close and the young couple were on their way back to Henderson, “the Taylors knew that Powell had dropped at Henderson a very exceptional particular person – one who would haven’t any hassle constructing a brand new and sensible life for himself a overseas nation.”
She plunged into it, joining the Woman’s Club, the Century Club, the Garden Club and singing not only for her own Presbyterian Church but also for First Baptist, St. Paul’s Episcopal and for the Jewish community at the Adath Israel Temple.
She was the first president of the Henderson Choral Society when it was formed on January 18, 1921, and twice president of the Henderson Music Club, introducing candlelit Christmas services during her first term.
“In 1924, Mrs. N. Powell Taylor was the first feminine president elected (of the music membership) and served till 1926, throughout which era she organized the ladies’s choir and started the annual candlelight Christmas companies, that are nonetheless held,” Melicent B Quinn wrote in The Gleaner of June 24, 1960. Quinn was a charter member of the Henderson Music Club.
Alice relinquished control of the Candlelight service in 1951 and that same year it was named after her at the suggestion of Rebecca Lackey.
She gave up her church singing after her youngest son died of heart failure in 1935 at the age of 29. Her husband died in 1950 and her other son died in 1956. But her own losses did not blind her to the misfortunes of others, Armstrong wrote.
“By 5 or 6 o’clock within the morning, Alice was all the time at her desk, or sitting up in mattress, writing, writing—notes for the sick, notes for individuals who had been sorrowful, notes for individuals who had been lucky, notes for the youthful, the encouragement want, notes for trapped and outdated pals.
“Then, as soon as the sun rose high in the sky, Alice went out the door and began to visit the sick and disabled. She brought everyone a little reminder—a delicacy rescued from a party, a handful of flowers, and to every sickroom she brought that breath of fresh air that only a truly Christian spirit can give.”
This year’s Alice P. Taylor Candlelight Service begins December 4 at 4:00 p.m. at First United Methodist Church on Third and Green Streets.
100 YEARS AGO
Local portions of what is now US 60 and US 41 Alternate were little more than dirt roads in 1922, and Chamber of Commerce and county government officials went to Frankfurt to persuade the State Highway Commission to do something about it, according to The Gleaner of December 10, 1922 .
“Much of the grading and drainage work has already been executed on the Dixie Bee and Ohio River roads, however the remaining needs to be accomplished …rapidly over the course of the subsequent yr, for it’s a pretty well-known undeniable fact that no surfacing work has been executed to a.” The mission can be drained and tiered from finish to finish.”
50 YEARS AGO
According to The Gleaner of December 3, 1972, the Corydon Civil Defense Unit received an unusual call from the Illinois Central Railroad.
Charles Scates was the only one there and railway staff asked for his help in stopping a Corydon to Henderson train due to arrive in 25 minutes.
“They had purpose to consider that there was a damaged sleeper alongside the road that would trigger a severe accident with doubtlessly severe property injury and even harm to coach drivers.”
Scates hastily switched on his flashing lights and parked in front of the train just as it was leaving. The railway then called again and expressed their appreciation.
25 YEARS AGO
The Gleaner had maintained a web presence for over a year, but on December 4, 1997 it activated a real website containing portions of the newspaper.
“Our new web site lets folks learn every day tales on the internet for the first time,” said editor Steve Austin.
Top local news, sports and feature stories were available, as were photos and editorials. Other content included obituaries and funeral notices, classifieds, movie times and capsule reviews, a guide to area restaurants, lottery results and a weather page.
The Gleaner website also contained links to popular search engines of the mid-1990s, as detailed in Chuck Stinnett’s December 7 column, which included much more detail and reviews of The Gleaner’s website from the likes of Michael Mulligan.
I liked this pre-Google paragraph: “We’ll help you search other parts of the web too. On our Search the ‘Net page we provide you with tools to help you find interesting things on the Internet by using popular search engines such as Alta Vista, Deja News (for searching electronic bulletin boards called newsgroups), Excite, Four 11 (z find phone numbers and addresses), Hotbot, Lycos and Yahoo.”
Readers of The Gleaner can reach Frank Boyett at [email protected] or on Twitter @BoyettFrank.
