Rojer Clark Taylor

January 19, 1938 – September 6, 2026

Rojer Clark Taylor, known affectionately as Roger, Daddy, and Grandpa, passed away peacefully on September 6, 2026, surrounded by his children and grandchildren at his home of 58 years on Willenberg Road in Lake Jackson, Texas. His was a life well-lived, filled with family, hard work, laughter, creativity, and love, and his impact will be felt for generations.

Roger was born on January 19, 1938, in Grandfield, Oklahoma, to Mattie Elizabeth (Clark) Taylor and William Herschel Taylor. As a boy in Oklahoma, he loved picking cotton—not necessarily for the work itself, but because he was paid at the end of each day. As Roger liked to tell it, he loved having money in his pocket. He also discovered an early love of performing. He played Rip Van Winkle in a local play and performed both speaking and singing roles on a local radio show.

In 1957, a search for work brought Roger to Lake Jackson, Texas, and, more importantly, to the love of his life, Doris Jane “Janie” (Meyers) Taylor. Roger and Janie met at a drive-in burger place called McDonald's in Clute, Texas, when their friend Edward Peveto introduced Roger to a carload of girls that included Janie. For Roger, it was love at first sight.

During their six-month courtship, Janie and her family moved several times, and Roger followed them each time. When he proposed in 1958, Janie's parents told him that if he wanted to marry their daughter, he needed to join the service and learn a trade. Roger took them at their word and joined the United States Navy that March. He and Janie were married by the justice of the peace in Elgin, Illinois, on July 17, 1958. Because they were both still under the legal marriage age, Janie's parents, Ralph and Katheryn Meyers, signed for them.

Roger proudly served in the United States Navy as an electrician aboard the USS Galveston from 1958 to 1962, achieving the rank of Petty Officer Third Class. During those years, he and Janie lived in Pennsylvania and began their family.

After his naval service, Roger and Janie returned to Lake Jackson and made it their lasting home. Roger worked as a refrigeration and air-conditioning technician before joining Pipefitters Local 211. He eventually became a Master Pipefitter and was honored with his 50-year watch and pin as a union member.

Together, Roger and Janie built a remarkable family. They were blessed with 11 children, 22 grandchildren, and 42 great-grandchildren—a legacy that includes four generations of Roger Clark Taylors.

To his children, Daddy was as much a builder of memories as he was a builder of things. They remember happy trips to Surfside to shrimp and crab; the fabulous treehouse and playhouses he built for them; family trips with everyone packed together into the back of the family car; and the inventive wooden toys he made, including stilts, hobby horses, whirlygigs, and rubber band cars. They remember working beside him on his classic cars and on countless construction projects, including one memorable occasion when he outfitted his sons and nephews with hard hats and tools and turned them into his own construction crew.

They remember Daddy and Mama dancing in the kitchen to classic songs from the 1950s and trying not to whisper or giggle too loudly during Daddy's news hour. They remember playing chase in the dark around the house and his famous challenge to win a hundred-dollar bill—a small fortune to a child in the 1970s—by somehow grabbing it from the ceiling.

His grandchildren have their own collection of treasured memories: long summer visits to Grandma and Grandpa's house, playing hide-and-seek in the garden and orchard Roger and Janie created, sneaking Grandpa's Fudgesicles, holiday gatherings filled with food and games, and the family's legendary Easter egg hunts.

Roger had a lifelong passion for classic cars and music. Over the years, his cars included a Ford Falcon, a Ford Galaxie 500, an MG Midget, a Jaguar, and two Lincoln Continentals. He loved woodworking and often took inspiration from projects in Popular Mechanics. His family still remembers the many things he created with his own hands.

He was also an avid gardener. He grew tomatoes every year and once famously sold 300 pounds of them to Reck's Grocery Store in a single season. His tomatoes, oranges, plums, and grapefruits became family favorites.

Roger also had a mischievous sense of humor and loved a good story—especially one that gave him an opportunity to tease his children. He delighted in trying to convince them of the most ludicrous ideas. One of the most memorable was his determined attempt to persuade them that trees swaying back and forth are what create the wind, rather than the other way around.

Roger was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Janie; his sisters, Wilma Jo Taylor and Barbara Taylor Lowery; and his granddaughter, Sophie Harris.

He is survived by his brother, Herschel Taylor; his sisters, Pat Brumfield and Lena Farley; and his children, Cathy and Gene Wooten, Mary and Donald Romine, Carol and Danny Bertram, Roger and Monica Taylor, William and Cindy Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard and Julia Taylor, Robert Taylor, Misty Taylor, Billy Joe and Shannon Taylor, and Jerry Taylor.

Roger leaves behind his children and children-in-law, 22 grandchildren, 42 great-grandchildren, and a family whose lives bear the imprint of his love, humor, hard work, creativity, and joy in living.

They will remember the things he built, the gardens he grew, the cars he loved, the stories he told, and the laughter he created. Most of all, they will remember Daddy and Grandpa—the man who built a family as carefully and lovingly as he built everything else.

A celebration of Roger's life will be held at Christ Lutheran Church, 86 Plantation Drive, Lake Jackson, Texas, on September 19, 2026, at 2:00 p.m., with Pastor Brian Gigee officiating. Refreshments will be served in the Fellowship Hall following the service.