Nancy Anne Staley Taylor

Murphysboro - Nancy Anne Staley Taylor, 89, passed away on Thursday, March 26, 2015 at Memorial Hospital of Carbondale. Nancy was the daughter of Rev. John B. Staley and Mary Etta Hager Staley. She was born in Bluefield, WV, on October 7, 1925. Mrs. Taylor received her high school diploma from Bramwell High School, Bramwell, WV, and her B.S. degree in Music Education from Concord College, Athens, WV. She also attended Columbia University and West Virginia University, where she received her Master's Degree in Music Education. While teaching music in High Point, North Carolina, she met and married William Ferrell. She later lived in New York City and for a number of years volunteered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Opera. Mrs. Taylor is survived by her nieces, Barbara Mahaffey Pierce of Marshall, VA, and Mary Esther Staley Root, of Anacortes, WA; nephews, Edward Mahaffey of Wheaton, CA, and John Staley of Spokane, WA; several great and great great-nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, a sister, Siddartha Mahaffey and her brother, Joseph Staley. Her teaching career began in Grafton, WV, later moving to High Point, and then to Charlotte, NC, where she taught junior high music and high school girls' glee club. Although the music department was extensive and of high quality, it needed a program especially for talented girls to perform advanced choral works. Nancy organized the first selected girls' chorus in NC, called "The Choralettes," and was invited to perform at the Music Education National Conference in Miami. In the next few years many of the larger schools in the state followed by organizing selected girls' choruses. She was selected as Teacher of the Year for her work at the elementary level. She also served for many years as a choral judge for high school and junior high school choruses, completing her teaching career in Charlotte, NC, in 1985. In 1990 she married Dr. Charles Taylor, Professor of Music at SIUC and a resident of Murphysboro. She became active in community and university organizations, including the Community Concert Board and the Memorial Hospital of Carbondale Auxiliary. For seven years she was chairperson of the Pink Geranium Committee, helping to design and build the present gift shop. She was president of the Auxiliary for an additional two years. Services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, March 30, 2015, at the First United Methodist Church, Carbondale, with Rev. Alan Rhein and Rev. John Annable. A visitation will be held one hour prior to the time of service on Monday at the church. Memorials are the preferred form of remembrance and may be made to the Taylor Memorial Fund at the First United Methodist Church, Carbondale, or to the Taylor Music Scholarship at West Virginia Wesleyan College, Buckhannon, WV, and will be accepted by Meredith Funeral Home, Carbondale.



Service:



11:00 a.m. Monday, March 30, 2015



First United Methodist Church Carbondale, Illinois







Visitation:



10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Monday, March 30, 2015



First United Methodist Church Carbondale, Illinois