Ken Taylor

[JFPowers]

Ken was always a caring trusted friend to many who often helped those less fortunate than him and was always supportive of our island adventures. I first met Ken when my family stopped at his Beachcomber restaurant after we first bought the gift shop in 1988 for a cup of hot chocolate. Ken was brewing up his first Batch of the year on that cold spring morning, encouraging us as we were beginning our island business experiences. I will also never forget the day I decided to build the hardware, I had bought the corner lot from Alvin Lafreniere and Ken was driving by when he saw me pacing out the outline of the building as we tried to decide how big to make it. He quickly jumped out of the car and helped me stake out the 50'X80' footprint the addition was, again encouraging us on in this crazy venture of bringing a full size hardware to Beaver Island. Ken was there when times were tough helping to bail out a dozen customers of mine who couldn't pay off their bills giving them a clean slate with which to start over. Ken offered to pay to contribute to a fund to bring an animal x-ray to Beaver Island when we were unable to use the Medical Center X-Ray for Pets (which we did back in the day). Ken's generosity and love for the island were unmatched, he will be greatly missed.

My condolences to his family

Jeff Powers

[Marie LaFreniere]

Taylor, Kenneth J.
5/17/1940 - 8/13/2023
Ann Arbor, MI
passed away unexpectedly on August 13, 2023, at his home in Ypsilanti, MI. He was born on May 17, 1940 to the late Fred Lowell and Grayce Hartley Taylor. Ken was a loving husband to Judith Furst Taylor ,who predeceased him in 2022. He grew up in Midland, Michigan, and graduated from Midland High School in 1958. He was on the high school swim team and a worked as a lifeguard at the Midland Municipal swimming pool for several years. Ken was a retired educator who spent his career teaching in Muskegon, MI, Melbourne, Australia and in the Ann Arbor, MI public schools. He and his wife Judy spent years traveling to their favorite island destinations here in Michigan and abroad. They were very active islanders having lived many summers on South Manitou Island before resettling to Beaver Island during the National Seashore acquisition of South Manitou Island. While on Beaver Island, Ken was active in island politics, owned a local business there, supported the historical society of Beaver Island and provided financial support to many young people who were enrolled in college preparing for careers in education and nursing. Ken and Judy traveled extensively throughout Europe but they always looked fondly on their times spent on islands. Ken's most recent travels took him to Antarctica and Costa Rica. In Costa Rica he was already developing a cadre of friends and was looking forward to returning there for an extended stay. Ken is survived by his son Stephen; his brothers, Curtis Taylor, Gerald Taylor (Nancy Bryant) and Richard Taylor (Kathleen). His nieces, Christine Taylor McCarley, Jeanne Taylor Hecht, Laurel Taylor Spencer, Diana Genovesi, Kelly Fine, and nephews Steven, Scott and Galen Taylor. He also has many great nieces and great nephews scattered across the country. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Beaver Island Historical Society, 26275 Main St, Beaver Island , MI 49872.

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[MoonstoneMary]

Thank you for posting the obituary. I copied on a Word doc for Alice Crown so she could read it. Alice already sent a donation in his memory, I'm not sure specifically which group on BI it went to. She's 90 and gets easily confused. But she's aware enough to remember (and miss) her friends on Beaver Island, whether living or passed on. She's having mobility issues so not able to go back to visit the island from our Tucson AZ home. As I said in my previous post, anyone interested can get her contact info from me. Just text me at 94I-962-9O4I and I'll pass along address and landline phone number.
Mary Phillips (Alice's neice)