W. Jerome (Jerry) Taylor, 90, died early on April 23, 1989 at Bear Lake Memorial Hospital in Montpelier after a brief illness. He was well known in the tri-state area as a teacher and coach at Montpelier High School, subsequently as editor and publisher of the Montpelier News-Examiner and as an active citizen and outdoorsman.
Jerry was born December 6, 1898 in Dillon Montana to George Giles and Emma Anderson Taylor. He grew up in the vicinity of Vale Oregon and enlisted in April 1918 to serve in World War I. Upon leaving military service he completed high school in Vale and then went on the to the University of Oregon where he received a Batchelor of Arts degree in business administration on June 16, 1924. He was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.
He moved to Idaho in 1925 and coached at Midway High School near Idaho Falls, where his basketball team had a 21-1 record in the 1925-1926 season. He moved to Montpelier in 1926 to take a position at the high school where he taught science, mathematics, Spanish and coached all three sports--football, basketball and track.
After he started a football program in 1928 his teams did not lose more than two games in any season and were undefeated in three. He was revered by his students and athletes and was conatantly invited to high school reunions decades after he left the teaching profession. A new football field at Bear Lake High School was dedicated as the Jerome Taylor Rotary Field in October 1986.
Jerry married Ruth Beverly Robinson in Logan Utah on July 10, 1932. The Taylors entered the newspaper business with her parents, Herbert A. and A Marguerite Robinson in 1937 when the Bear Lake County News and the Montpelier Examiner merged into the News-Examiner. The Taylors continued operating the newspaper until they retired in 1974.
Throughout his years in Montpelier Jerry was active in community affairs. He was a member of the American Legion, the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club, and served as president of the latter. He was made an honorary member of the Lions Club in 1969. An article in Bear Lake magazine in 1979 stated that although he was not a native of Bear Lake Valley "...his contributions to the welfare of Montpelier are at least as significant as [that of] most of the original settlers." Beyond community activities he avidly pursued hobbies of gardening and fishing, and was frequently seen afield in the tri-state region.
Besides his wife Jerry is survived by one brother, Webster A. Jones of San Juan Capistrano California; his daughter Cecil and her husband, Christopher Bartek and their children Matthew and Erin of Lander Wyoming; a son, Lance and his wife Yvonne Taylor of Washington Maine and Cambridge Massachesetts and their children Ian, of Cambridge and Signe, of New York City.
Funeral services were held April 27, 1989 at Matthews Mortuary Chapel in Montpelier. Burial was in the Montpelier Cemetery.