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Col. Dayton R. Taylor died in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas on December 11, 2015. A visitation will be Wednesday, December 16, 2015 from 6-8 PM at Mission Park North, 3401 Cherry Ridge. He will be buried, with a graveside funeral in Bear Creek Cemetery, Bertram, Texas at 1 PM on Thursday, December 17, 2015. Request all contributions be made to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Bertram, Texas. Dayton Reed Taylor, "DR", to his family and friends, was born to Thomas J. and Elizabeth Vaughan Taylor on December 20, 1919 in Bertram, Burnet County, Texas. He graduated from Bertram High School in in 1937 and from the University of Texas in Austin with a BBA Degree and a private flying license in 1941. At the outbreak of WWII, He joined the US Air Corp, as an aviation cadet at San Antonio in 1942. He received his Air Force wings and promotion to 2nd Lt later in that year. After serving as a flight instructor in Texas, he was transferred overseas to Italy in August 1944 and assigned as a Captain/Pilot of a B-24 "Liberator" Bomber with the 450th Bomb Group at Mandura, Italy where he flew over 30 combat missions. At the end of hostilities in Europe, he was transferred to the Azores until 1947. "DR" continued to serve his nation after the Army Air Corps transitioned to the US Air Force in 1948. He retired in August 1969 after 27 years of distinguished service with the rank of full colonel in the Air Force and a Master's Degree from the University of Oklahoma. "DR" married Norma Patterson at Tyndall AF Base, Florida, while "DR" was attending Squadron Officers School on October 8, 1948. They had two children, Norman Bain Taylor, and Susan Vaughan Taylor. "DR" had a son in a prior marriage, Robert Reed Taylor. Robert soon joined the DR-Taylor Family in 1967. "DR" and Norma moved to Austin, Texas after his air force career retirement and purchased a home in the Northwest Austin. "DR" was employed by the Texas Education Agency in the auditing and finance departments. He retired from the agency in 1980. After all their children graduated from college, married and moved elsewhere, "DR" and Norma re-retired to a retirement complex in Austin. They later relocated to a similar facility in San Antonio in 2009 to be closer to family. Norma passed away in 2010 and "DR" moved to a nursing home facility in 2015 under the care of wonderful care givers where he passed away 9 days before his 96th birthday from various elements that he had been struggling with for about a year. "DR" is survived by his two sons and one daughter, five grandsons and one granddaughter, and ten great grandchildren. He will be greatly missed as a loving father, grand, and great grandfather by his family. He was truly part of the "Greatest Generation" and an "American Patriot." You may view and sign the guestbook at www.missionparks.com. Arrangements under the direction of Oak Hills Mortuary.

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Dayton Reed Taylor

December 20, 1919 - December 11, 2015