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Joseph Taylor1938 - 2015 |
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Very affable and easy-going, Joe Taylor was widely known for his salty humor and colorful personality, his gruff exterior a thin veil for the kind and generous man he truly was. He will be greatly missed by his many friends and loved ones. |
Joe was born in southern Pennsylvania in 1938. He graduated from St. Monsignor Bonner High School and began a very long and varied work life. He had many jobs and businesses over the years, including being a co-owner/operator of J&R's Pizzeria in New Milford, a spray foam installer with Astro Foam, and owner/operator of Joe's Sundae's Best ice cream parlor, among others. Joe held the position as Mayor of the Town of New Milford, Pa. for 15 years. |
Dad had a job with Art Wiggens' Astro-Foam spray insulation for homes. One time he attempted to make a spray-foam replica of the Venus de Milo (famous statue with no arms). I came home from school to find it mounted on the stone wall out in front of the house. It looked more like Jabba the Hutt with boobs than the Venus de Milo, it was hilarious. |
Once when all the children were together having lunch, Joe broke into song and "his voice was beautiful, just beautiful." |
One time I called the fire department on someone's house as a prank because I guess I used to be a real asshole and, after speaking to the Police, dad told me that I would have to spend at least six months in a juvenile detention center. I was sweating bullets, he let me believe that for two weeks before I found out that there was no truth to it. Boy that was effective, I was super good after that! |
Joe loved the town of New Milford and gave freely of his time to help with the various aspects of running the town. He was also very generous with life-giving blood donations and gave blood every time the blood drive was held in town. |
The State Police came to the door looking for me for some trouble I'd gotten into and I could hear dad downstairs talking to them. "I don't know where the hell he is, he doesn't live here anymore.", I heard him say. Then they left and I continued watching Dukes Of Hazard. |
"Oh...My...God, my brother was a flaming liberal." |
After complaining to Dad that I couldn't drive to work with no heat in the station wagon because the windshield was freezing over, dad called me a #@&%? and later hooked up a home wall heater on the inside of the car door that ran off a propane tank in the back seat. He brought me outside to show me how to light it and, after running the gas a bit to long, ignited a large poof of flame. He jumped out of the car with all of his facial hair singed and smoking. I managed not to laugh and we didn't speak of it afterward. |
Joe was a music lover and was especially fond of classic country and traditional americana with Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash being two of his favorites. |
Once I accidentaly pulled a tall corner-cabinet over on myself and all of the dishes came out and broke on my head. I got a really deep gash on my wrist and Mary Monteforte had to run me to the emergency room. When Kathy called dad at the pizza place to tell him what had happened he asked, "Are all the dishes broken?" |
When I was in Japan a lot of parents were calling to make sure their kids were alright because many helicopters had been malfunctioning and crashing and we rode in them all the time. Dad called, I said, "Hi Dad", and he said, "Oh your not dead huh?" I said no and went to say something else but he interupted me, "This call is costing a fortune, I have to go!", and hung up. |
I used to go down to the pizza place on Saturday mornings with Dad and help out before they opened and, when they came to empty the quarters out of the video game and pinball machines, Dad would have them flick a bunch of free credits on each of them and I could play for free for hours. |
Joey and Jimmy used to build Lego cars, get a rolling start and then smash them together to see whose would survive. Joey's cars kept winning, so Dad took Jimmy aside at one point and secretly helped him to super glue all the blocks on his car together. After that Dad just sat back and laughed as Jimmy won every battle. |
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