Daniel Taylor Jr.

Daniel Taylor, Jr. was born on February 21, 1935, to Mable Johnson Taylor and Daniel Taylor Sr. in Gainesville, Fla. He was the youngest of three siblings, Lucille and Lillian being his elder sisters. At an early age, Junior, the nickname given to him by his Florida family, accepted Christ and was baptized at Shady Grove Baptist church in Florida around 1945. He graduated from Lincoln High school.

In 1967 he moved from Florida to Southern California where he met his wife Eva Louise Slack in 1970. They had their daughter Khala Shante’ Taylor in 1975. Dan worked at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center as a research technician and retired in 1995. He often took his daughter with him to work where she got to witness various aspects of research and witness his hard work ethic to provide for his family.

Many knew Dan as an artist. He loved sketching, creating oil paintings and would sketch on a napkin or anything that was around if he had idle time on his hands. Eva frequently spoke of him as her hero because he would share with her better ways to do things like how to navigate and drive around Los Angeles and the dos and don’ts of daily living. He was a supportive father and grandfather. He made it a point to attend his daughter’s dance recitals, some track practices, a daddy daughter dance as well as other events. He proudly continued the tradition by attending his granddaughter’s Preschool and Kindergarten graduations. In spite of suffering a stroke that left him partially immobile, he was determined to walk Khala down the aisle with no cane at her wedding. He did just that! He later told Khala that his son-in-law was an answer to prayer as he prayed God would bless her with a godly husband. He also loved that he had a new dessert eating buddy when Rodney came into the picture. In their pre-vegan days, they often made a run to Marie Callender’s where they enjoyed their lemon ice box pie. In their post-vegan days dessert was still a highlight when they were together. Trader Joe’s vanilla Ice cream and Uncle Eddies or Whole Foods vegan chocolate chip cookies were the standard. He always insisted on a bowl of French Vanilla ice cream after every dinner meal.

Dan loved listening to music, especially jazz music as it was an unwind for him. He also liked to sing. Many of his California family and friends were unaware of this, but he had a pleasant alto- baritone voice. He inherited his singing voice from his mother’s siblings who had a singing group in Florida. He was what you call a “sing around the house and in the car” kind of guy. Khala has many memories of having fun singing and recording songs together on a black rectangle tape recorder.
He could also be a bit impatient at times. Once while teaching Khala how to drive and her running a stop sign, he made her stop the car in the middle of the street—it was a low traffic street— get out and go to the passenger’s side. He was a good, yet meticulous teacher.

Dan was an enthusiastic sports fan and could always be found watching any and every sport from sunup to sundown, especially football and basketball. In addition to these he enjoyed golfing, bowling, cruises, and watching westerns and sitcoms. Sanford and Son and Star Trek were two of his favorites.

It began as a tradition to travel to Big Bear with a group of friends and their kids. One year, Dan became known as “Down Hill Dan” because he fell and slid down a hill of snow due to the slippery soles of his cowboy boots that he was advised by many not to wear.

Dan and Eva cultivated many deep friendships and together with these friends helped to found Friends Unlimited Inc., an organization of members dedicated to serving the community through which many of these friendships persist to this day.

Dan joined Faithful Central Baptist Church in Inglewood, California, circa 1998. Dan and Eva joined New Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, California about 10 years later. During the week he would prepare for Sunday School by diligently reading the lesson ahead of time, so he was ready to contribute to the Sunday School discussions. When they re-located to Lodi California in 2022, they joined Progressive Community Church of Stockton, California. In spite of Dan’s failing health, not a Sunday went by that he wanted to miss attending service at Progressive Community Church.

Dan was proceeded in death by his father Daniel Taylor Sr., mother Mabel Johnson Taylor, daughter Terry Taylor, sister Lillian Williams, , nephew Larry Williams, , cousins James B. Rivers, aka Jimmy, first cousin Alene Williams, and cousin Lonye Coats.

Left to cherish his memory are his wife Eva Taylor of 46 years, daughter Khala Scott (Rodney), granddaughter Shuree Scott, and sister Lucille Debose; nieces Chrystle Debose, Elaine Grace, Kim Mobley (Gerald) and Jacki Battest; nephews Michael Debose and Todd Debose, Gregory Williams (Anita) and Ronnie Wiliams; sisters-in-law Zelia Champ, Deloris Marvel, Wilma Taylor, and Peggy Hunter; brothers-in-laws Leroy Slack, Darryl Slack, Teddy Hunter; cousins Eddie Taylor, Raymond Morris, Paul Taylor (Jackie), Ella Salters-Taylor (Delmar), Karen Coats, LaJoy Morris, Samatra Morris (Samir, Lyric, and Layiah), Mark Coats (Karakezzi, Mar’Je [Celiyia], Makala, Kamari, Victoria, Markhi, and Mariah), Keith Jones (Kieshawn), and Nicole Champ (Collin) as well as a host of additional family members and friends.