Roslyn Taylor

Doctor Roslyn “Roz” Donny Taylor died peacefully on February 23, 2019 at her home in Summerville, SC where she lived with her husband, Ken Firth. She married Ken in 2017 during a beautiful Christmas-time service at Dorchester Presbyterian Church where she was a member. The daughter of Oto G. Donny, Jr. and Roslyn A. Donny, of Columbia, SC. Born in Columbia, SC she graduated from Emory University and the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA where she received her MD in 1967. She married Dr. Benjamin T. Taylor, MD, of Belmont, NC in 1962 and they had two wonderful children, Cynthia Gambill Taylor and Kevin Emory Taylor. Both Dr. Taylors did post-graduate work with the US Navy at Jacksonville Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, FL and were to the Rota Naval Station in Rota, Spain. In July 1972 the family returned to the US and located in Inman, SC. Roz retired from the Navy as a Lieutenant Commander following a medical discharge. In 1978 Dr. Taylor moved to Columbia, SC and began her career in Family Medicine education at the University of South Carolina Medical School. She later worked as Director of the Family Practice Residency Programs at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT and at Memorial Medical Center in Savannah, GA. In 2006, in recognition for the care she gave her patients, her service to underprivileged patients, and her contributions to educating family practice doctors, she was named Family Physician of the Year by the Georgia Academy of Family Practice. She retired from practicing and teaching medicine in 2007. She enjoyed spending time with her family at her beach house, Tiger Pause, at Edisto Beach, SC. She was honored to have her grandchildren be the 5th generation of her family to vacation at Edisto. She also loved going to football and basketball games with the Clemson Tiger fans in her family and her many “Tiger” friends from Columbia. She is survived by her husband Ken Firth, her daughter Cynthia T. and Dr. William Veal, PhD, of Summerville; their children Taylor, Maria and Tristan; her son Kevin E. and Lisa Taylor of Simpsonville, SC; and their children Ben, Lily and Cate. She is also survived by her sister and her husband, Anne Donny Upton and Dan K. Upton of Washington, NC. Arrangements for a memorial service and internment at the National Cemetery in Beaufort, SC will be made at a later date.