Obituary: Wilma Taylor

Wilma Taylor

Wilma G. Jacobsen Bates Taylor, 87, of Baker City, died Sept. 10, 2006, at St. Elizabeth Health Care Center.

Her graveside service will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the North Powder Cemetery.

Visitations will be from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. today at Gray's West & Co., 1500 Dewey Ave.

Wilma was born at the Dalton family home in North Powder on Aug. 2, 1919, to Robert and Harriet Dalton Jacobsen. She grew up at North Powder where she attended school and graduated with the Class of 1937.

In 1941, she married Eugene R. Bates at Weiser, Idaho. The couple had a daughter, Sharon. The marriage ended in divorce.

Wilma became a chief operator at the North Powder Telephone office, where she worked from 1950 to 1955. She transferred to Baker City when the telephone system was converted to dial. She lived at Baker City until she married Ralph E. Taylor in 1960. They had two daughters, Robin and Susan.

Wilma and Ralph lived on the family farm until 1975 when they moved to North Powder. They built a home on the Dalton property where Wilma was born.

Because of ill health, they returned to Baker City in 1997 where they lived until May of this year. Wilma spent her last months at St. Elizabeth Care Center.

She was preceded in death by her parents; and her husband, Ralph.

Survivors include three daughters and their husbands, Sharon and Jim Jeffries, Robin and Tim Green and Susan and Deven Sackett; nine grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; and her cousin, Vera Coday.