Jean Taylor of Clinton, Missouri, passed away on Wednesday, January 22, 2025 at the age of 99.
Jean was born Verda Jean Phillips to Earl and Stella Mae (Downs) Phillips in Sedalia, Missouri, September 8, 1925.
She is survived by three sons, Tom of Overland Park, Kansas; Mike (Dianne) of La Quinta, California; and Randy (Vivian) of Clinton, Missouri. She is also survived by four grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, and beloved niece Carolyn (Dick) Harlin and family.
Preceding Jean in death were her parents and a sister, Nola Zahringer Lewellen. She was married first to Lewis C. Taylor in 1946 and to Orin Smith in 1977. Both are deceased.
Jean graduated from Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia in 1943 and attended State Fair Community College in Sedalia the first year it opened in 1968.
After graduating from high school, Jean worked as a long-distance operator for Southwestern Bell in Sedalia. During World War II, she worked in Kansas City in inventory control at the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Plant, and for Halmark Cards in the payroll department.
During later years in Clinton and Sedalia she worked with her first husband Lewis in his MFA Insurance Agency and as secretary of the First Christian Church of Sedalia. From 1973 to her retirement in 1990, she was a caseworker for the Division of Family Services of Missouri’s Department of Social Services in Sedalia.
In 2011, Jean moved to Clinton from Sedalia. Over her lifetime, Jean loved to travel and was able to visit all 50 states and several foreign countries, with special fondness for Ireland, Germany, and Switzerland. She enjoyed sewing and became an excellent seamstress because of the influence of her grandmother Olivia Downs.
She loved keeping up with her grand-children, Chris (Michelle) and Jason (Courtney) Tayor of California, Mindy (Wesley) Nold of Clinton, and Erin (Jeff) Quinlan of Orange Beach, Alabama and her great-grand-children Lila and Lyric Taylor; Amber and Riley Edwards; Kaysen and Jace Nold; and Jax, Hudson, and Wyatt Taylor.
A family Celebration of Life will be held at a later date with inurnment in Memorial Park Cemetery in Sedalia, Missouri. Memorial contributions can be made to the Dr. James and JoAnn Bourland Cancer Center and may be left in care of the funeral home.
Services are under the direction of Vansant-Mills Funeral Home of Clinton, MO.
