Merle Blaine Taylor

Funeral services for Merle Blaine Taylor, 78, Silver Lake, will be at 2 p.m. Monday at Penwell-Gabel Parker-Price Chapel in Topeka. Burial with military honors will be in Prairie Home Cemetery in Shawnee County.Mr. Taylor died Wednesday, June 11, 2008.He was born Dec. 3, 1929, in Ogden, the son of Edward J. and Doris Evelyn Taylor. He attended schools in Keats and graduated from Silver Lake High School 1948.Mr. Taylor joined the U.S. Navy in 1951 and served on the USS Block Island during the Korean War. He farmed in the Silver Lake area. He also worked as a pipefitter at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. for 34 years and retired in 1994.He was a member of United Rubber Workers Local 307, American Legion Post 400 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2187. He received the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks Habitat Conservation Award. Mr. Taylor enjoyed farming, appreciating nature, feeding the birds, deer and turkey, growing sunflowers and spending time with his family.He married Jean J. Quinlan on Sept. 4, 1954, in Boston. She survives, of the home. Other survivors include two daughters, Susan Tate and husband Steve, Lawrence, and Brenda Merillat, Silver Lake; three sons, Edward and wife Terri, Mark and wife Jacque, and Bill and wife Janice, all of Silver Lake; a brother, Roy, Manhattan; and 12 grandchildren.Friends may call after 3 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home, where the family will receive them from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.The family suggests memorials to Heart of America Hospice, 3715 SW 29th St., Suite 20, Topeka, KS 66614 or Bethel Community Church, 6944 NW Landon Road, Silver Lake, KS 66539. Online condolences may be sent at www.penwellgabel.com.