Lorene Taylor Davidson

Lorene Taylor Davidson June 2, 1912 - January 7, 2013 Lorene Taylor Davidson, 100, of Waco passed away Monday, January 7, 2013. A memorial service will be held 12:00 Noon, Friday, January 11, at Wilkirson-Hatch Bailey Funeral Home, 6101 Bosque Road, Waco, with Dr. Paul Stripling presiding. Private internment will be at Oakwood Cemetery. A time of visitation will follow the memorial service. Lorene was born June 2, 1912, in Pine Hill, Texas. She was the second of five children of A.B. and Altie Taylor and their oldest daughter. She graduated from Stephen F. Austin State Teacher's College now Stephen F. Austin State University with a bachelor's degree in education and then earned her master's degree in education from the University Of Wisconsin. As a young school teacher in the 1930s, Lorene was a survivor of the New London Elementary School gas explosion that took place on March 18, 1937, that killed nearly 300 children. Lorene was instrumental in saving the lives of not only students but others as well. While at SFA, she met her future husband, Floyd, and they married shortly after World War II. They moved to Waco in 1946, where Floyd was a Professor of Biology and later Chairman of the Biology Department for nearly 40 years. Lorene was an avid ornithologist who loved birds. She and Floyd took numerous trips around the world bird-watching and taking photographs. She was a lover of classical music and an accomplished classical pianist who loved going to the symphony and the opera. As a huge proponent of music and education, she and Floyd established a music scholarship at the Baylor School of Music. She was President of the Baylor University Round Table and the Waco Audubon Society. She and Floyd were longtime sponsors of the Alpha Omega girls club at Baylor now Pi Beta Phi. Baylor University was a major part of her life, and she loved being a part of the university community. Her husband, Floyd F. Davidson, her sister, Hazel Taylor Gray, and her brothers, Reagan Taylor and Bill Taylor, preceded her in death. She is survived by her sister, Mary Nell Taylor Foote of Dallas; five nephews, Myrph Foote, Jr. of Dallas, Ken Foote of Fort Worth, Byron Taylor of Longview TX, John Taylor of Henderson TX, and George Taylor of Carthage TX; and one niece, Ruth Ann Taylor of Seattle, WA. Honorary pallbearers will be her great nephews: Guy Taylor and Robert Foote, Billy, Blake, Adam, and Clint Taylor. Memorials may be made to the Baylor School of Music or the Davidson Lecture Series of the Baylor Biology Department or to a charity of your choice. The family invites you to leave a message or memory in our "Memorial Guestbook" at www.WilkirsonHatchBailey.com.