Joe Verland Taylor

Joe Verland Taylor passed away in Boise Idaho at the age of 92 on Friday, May 16, 2025.

 

Joe was born on August 03, 1932 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming to Harry Verland Taylor and Joella Eynon Taylor. Throughout his life, Joe loved telling anecdotes about growing up with his younger brother, Glenn and his little sister, Deon. They were best friends, as well as siblings and they raised their young parents (Joe was born when his mother was 17)  with stalwart patience, wild antics and fierce love for one another. His sister, Jane arrived when Joe was 20 and he adored her and treasured their relationship. 

 

He was born in an era when lots of mothers were “teen mothers,” but Joella often told of her youthful naivete and how, “It’s a wonder those boys survived.” As a tiny baby, Joe escaped freezing because “your dad and his brother stayed up all night and kept the fire going and held the baby close inside their coats”.  The temperature was south of -65 F.  She also told of delivering milk (she milked 8 cows and sold the milk and cream to the families who camped and worked on the Grassy Lake Dam) while toddlers, Joe and Glenn played in the spring near their camp.  “It’s a wonder they didn’t drown” Joella used to say. 

 

In these relatively affluent times, it is hard to understand the poverty so many people experienced in the 1930’s. Many of us may not truly understand how much parents “went without” as the sparse lifestyle was normal and accepted.  As a toddler, Joe’s  favorite toy was his dad’s lace-up work boots.  He would sit behind the shoes, hold onto the laces, and mimic Verland driving one of his teams of horses.  He named his two leather work horses “Hebe and Dick” after Verland’s real team. Joella and Verland scrimped and saved because they  wanted to get Joe a real toy for Christmas. They bought no gifts for each other and brother Glenn “didn’t need a gift” as he was only 5 months old.  The shiny new wagon was presented on Christmas morning.  Joe walked around it, looked it all over, then looked around the cabin. He finally asked, “Where’s Hebe and Dick?”

 

As Joe grew, he struggled with some of the frustrations of being a youngster. His darned shoes seemed to always end up on the wrong feet and he’d wail, “They make me turn!”  His mittens were often wet and that made him cry.  One day he decided he had had it and he announced plans to run away.  His mother packed him a little lunch in a handkerchief on a stick and he ran away.  She watched from the window while he moseyed around the yard for a little while. When he returned, he walked through the door, pointed outside, and said “I see you still got that same old cat.” That wry humor remained with him throughout his life.

 

When Joe was a young teen, his mother worked as a fire lookout on Brush Creek.  She and her three kids camped at the lookout.  As they were riding out one day, Joella’s horse fell on her.  Her summer job was over and Joe was tasked with packing out the camp.  When he reported back to his mother, he said “I brought that box of candles from the barn to the house.”  That box of candles was tampons.  Talk about naivete, yet still full of kindness and compassion. 

 

At one of their rented homes, the family embarked on a project to raise and sell turkeys.  To mortify their pre-teen sister (and the turkeys) the brothers put Deon’s red bathing suit on one of the turkeys.  Little did they know that the flock would violently punish any “different” looking member.  They nearly pecked that poor turkey to death before Glenn and Joe could disrobe the poor victim.

 

Another fowl story that  Joe loved to tell about his childhood is when his folks moved their family to Idaho to try (and fail) at farming and had a German neighbor lady (Annie Zitlaw) who raised chickens. Joe and his little brother would play in the yard and when the neighbor came out to call her chickens in, Joe would imitate her accent and call them back “Chaaaw; Chaaaw.” The chickens were confused and the neighbor lady angered. When describing the boys to people around town she’d relate: “Dat leettle von is a gud boy, but dat older von is da mean son-ova-beetch.” Joe would laugh with each retelling and for someone who spoke kindly to others later in life, the tale may suggest the grooming of self-restraint is an arduous journey with highlights.

 

Through all his experiences and adventures growing up, his dad was employed by the United States Forest Service and their young family lived in various locations from Forest Service cabins to tents in the northwest Wyoming region of Jackson Hole. Joella counted once and said they moved 32 times in the first years of their marriage. One fond memory Joe often retold of his childhood included when he was 7 years old and brother (5 year old), Glenn, rode horseback up the river from the Goosewing Ranger Station, in the Gros Ventre country of Wyoming with a “sack of coffee and bag of beans” to spend a few days and fish. They stayed in a small cow cabin, warmed by a wood stove, ate fish, beans and drank boiled coffee.  Following his childhood recipe, Joe continued to love his coffee, black and strong.

 

Another story many often heard from him was when he and his brother Glenn climbed a nearby tree to evade a bear, while their dog, Brownie chased the bear up the tree next to them. They poked it  with a stick to make it retreat, while Brownie would force it back up when it neared the ground. The ‘Bear SeeSaw’ was a repetitious activity for the boys, the dog, the bear and for many retellings. Joe had many wildlife encounters as he grew up living in the national forests and nearby national parks of northwest Wyoming. He always loved wandering in the backcountry!

 

Education was a valuable and sought after activity.  In spite of all those moves, Joe was always enrolled in school. Joe attended one room schools around the valley and boarded with family members to attend larger schools in Jackson and Wilson.  When Verland was employed at the Elk Ranch, Joe and Glenn went to school about 4 miles away, where the Moose Head Ranch is today.  Joe (age 10) drove a gentle team of mares hitched to a little sleigh to school each day.  An adult man who lived there helped the boys unhitch and feed their team in the barn while they attended school.  One morning as they rounded a little bend, there was a cow moose blocking their way and she was “on the fight”.  No matter what they did, the moose blocked their path, running at the team and striking at them.  Finally a neighbor heard the commotion and came out of his house and shot the moose.  Joe drove the team right up over the corpse and on to school.

 

With his eventful childhood in his past, Joe graduated from Jackson Hole High School and attended the University of Wyoming for a few years before joining the United States Army in the early 1950s and was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia. While serving, Joe signed up for paratrooper training because the Army offered him $100 more a month. His first jump from an airplane was scheduled at night and he landed in a tree!

 

After serving his country, Joe moved to Boise, Idaho and lived with his Aunt Marna (and Frank) Kester and where he attended night classes at Boise’s Link’s School of Business and was hired to work for the State of Idaho Highway Department. He worked as a member of the team that installed the first computer in Idaho and provided the foundation for highway design and infrastructure in Idaho.  During that time, Joe met Shirley Thomassen at the Royal Restaurant  in Boise Idaho in December 1958 and after a quick courtship, they were married the following summer. They would have celebrated their 66th anniversary June 12, 2025. In early spring, following their marriage, they welcomed their daughter Debra and 21 months later another daughter, Joanna was born.

 

Joe continued to work for the Highway Department and to support his family, he added part time jobs on evenings and weekends. He made storm windows/doors and on winter weekends, he ran the ski lifts at Bogus Basin, notably the poma lift that was in the location where Morning Star Express chairlift is today. Joe was an excellent skier, so the job at Bogus Basin had some benefits he enjoyed!

 

As Joe continued his career, he worked in Information Systems as a computer programmer for the food distribution center at Mountain States Wholesale of Idaho, a subsidiary of DiGiorgio Corporation, During this time Joe split his time living in San Francisco and Boise which enhanced his career but also was a challenge for his young family.  When Albertsons purchased Mountain States Wholesale in 1972, Joe became a loyal Albertsons employee in their Information Systems for 35 years. He was instrumental in setting up computer systems in the division offices that Albertsons acquired, as well as built and traveled extensively across the US. As the Senior Systems Analyst in the department, one of his projects was developing the new concept of price coding known as UPC (Universal Product Codes) for Albertsons stores. When he traveled, he’d visit competitor’s stores and “collect” a myriad of  pricing scheme labels from store shelves from all over the country to build and establish the barcoding system Albertsons still uses today.

 

The same year he joined Albertsons, tragedy struck the Taylor family. In December of 1972, a drunk driver hit the car head-on that Joe was driving on the Capitol Boulevard Bridge in Boise, Idaho. All members of his family, including his mother-in-law were injured and his daughter, Joanna was killed. The accident haunted their family and the loss of Joanna permeated his heart forever. 

 

When Joe needed support the most after the accident, he was fortunate enough to have found lifelong friends at Albertsons. Joe’s relationship with the many people that he worked with was a life treasure to him. After retirement (35 years after he began at Albertsons) he kept in touch with them and after his move to Barber Station Assisted Living, several of these friends continued to visit and support him weekly. One of Joe’s legacies was how loyalty sustains and is a foundation of relationship. Joe did not gossip and was a confidante of many people because he did not publicly share their struggles and had faith in their success. He said that his greatest reward was to see other people advance and be rewarded for their work. He was encouraging and positive and strived to never utter an unkind word about anyone.

 

Some fond memories of Joe during his life include:

 

·  Joe was civic-minded and worked to support the Boise community. He ran (and lost) for Boise City Council in the late 1960’s. One of his campaign strategies was to distribute campaign flyers in Trick or Treat bags, which may have trained aspiring voters, but did not result in winning the election!

·  Joe served as the Commissioner and President of Boise City Parks and Recreation Board. As a Boise City Parks and Recreation Commissioner he worked on the plans for multiple parks in the region. He was especially proud of the work he did as a member of the Boise City Task Force that was instrumental in the transition of the property from private ownership to the City of Boise. 

·  Joe supported many charities and individuals by attending many auctions, etc where he purchased artwork, trips, etc not for the investment, but for the opportunity to support a myriad of different people and their causes. He provided funds for educating young people, personal donations to individuals during difficult times/situations and shared what he had with family and friends as well as members of the community.

·  Joe was an avid golfer. He played on all the local courses and took annual trips with his golf buddies to Florida. He was a natural for Albertsons to select in the early 1990’s, to appoint him to their volunteer team to support the Ben Hogan Tour tournament that selected Boise for a tournament site. That tournament experienced various name changes including the Nike Boise Open and finally evolved into the Boise Albertsons Open. Joe attended every tournament for over 25 years and even served as President for a season. He loved playing in the Amateurs portion of the tournament, stocking the food tents and recruiting volunteers to staff those tents, as well as chatting with attendees, volunteers, golf pros and tournament organizers. He thrived on the golf course! Many would recognize him swinging a golf club with a pipe clenched in his teeth, or playing cards and drinking coffee at Warm Springs Golf course everyday. 

·  Joe developed an early love of flyfishing, flytying and exploring the outdoors. He had an old red Dodge pickup with a wooden bed, he named ‘Horace’. There wasn’t a location in southwestern Idaho, where Joe and his friend, Jim Austin didn’t visit (or attempt to) in that old truck. Later he purchased a new Chevrolet, which they used to access many more locations in “Mr. Green Jeans.”

·  Joe took his family on many camping trips in the back of Mr. Green Jeans, their trailer and their motorhome! While he was working for Albertsons, he loved taking his motorhome filled with work friends each year to Stanley, Idaho where they enjoyed the high life and ‘beverages’ of that mountain town.  

·  Joe and Shirley enjoyed various activities with their neighbors, The Hanbys (dancing, card playing, potlucks, swimming parties, golfing, horse races, etc.). Joe Hanby loved the story about Joe Taylor showing him how to win a horse race. In the 6th race only 6 horses were running so Joe Taylor placed a $2 bet on each horse to win. A long shot came in first and Joe Taylor won $64. “The Joe’s” participated in a multitude of mischievous events and shared multiple good memories.   

·  Joe loved the outdoors, he liked fishing and hunting, especially his trips to Alaska via plane, train and automobile,  but mostly boats (via cruises). He was enamored with the scenery, the glaciers, dog races, history and wildlife, especially catching glimpses of his favorite animal, grizzly bears!.

·  Joe and his mother both drew for a Mountain Bighorn Sheep the same year and both displayed their trophies in their homes, the rest of their lives. 

·  Joe loved to read, especially short stories, history, information about the Iditarod dog races in Alaska and information about wildlife (especially bears).  

·  He loved animals and his Doberman, Heidi, was his loyal companion for many years.

·  Joe loved growing flowers (especially outdoor roses), gardening and he enjoyed keeping his yard well kept. Even his daughter’s first memory is being with her Dad in his garden. 

 

Joe is survived by his wife, Shirley Thomassen Taylor, daughter Debra Taylor Matthews and son in law BR ‘Sam’ Matthews; his grandchildren Samuel Matthews and Ellen Matthews; and his sisters, Deon Taylor Robinson (Merle Coleman)  and Jane Taylor Budge (Danny Budge) and several nieces and nephews.

 

He was preceded in death by his parents, Verland and Joella Taylor; his brother Glenn Taylor (sister in law, Marian DiStefano Taylor), brother in law, William ‘Bill Rob’ Robinson and his daughter, Joanna Gay Taylor.

 

A heartfelt appreciation for especially the last two years of support and service goes to Dalena Arrington and caregivers with Auburn Crest Hospice and caregivers at Table Rock Senior Living at Barber Station. Thank you to his friends/family: Harry Karnes, Dennis Fischer, Don Kiefer, Dave and Karen Ogden, Pat Steele, Ed Sheaffer, Stefan Schachtell, Dennis Hanel, Hadley Wagner,and Dana Tiegs for their care, unwavering support, and love for Joe during his ‘Bear Watching’ days. 

 

A private gathering of family members will take place in August 2025 where Joe’s ashes will be scattered up the Gros Ventre in Wyoming, per his request.