Donald C. Taylor

Donald Charles Taylor died on Monday, November 15, 2021 from complications due to congestive heart failure. He was 73 years old.
Donald was born in Arkansas City, Kansas on October 17, 1948. He was the son of Lloyd Taylor, a railroad engineer, and Bonnie Dixon Taylor, and was one of two children with his older sister Judy.
Don led a wandering life, living in many cities during his lifetime: Dallas, Tampa, Ypsilanti, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, Macon, and Knoxville with stops in numerous places in between. He worked most often in property development and property management, working for a number of large national firms in roles from the very bottom of the ladder right up to the very top.
Don was a man with many facets: loving, generous, gregarious, strong-willed and passionate, opinionated and quick to anger but also quick to offer all of the help and kindness to those that he could. He was a dreamer and a learner, even at the end of his life.
He loved music, with an encyclopedic knowledge and appreciation of much of the greatest music of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Donald had a wonderful voice, bringing so much musical art to life either on the karaoke stage or just singing along to a record or the radio.
He loved to cook, mastering recipes for enchiladas, cashew chicken, vermicelli soup, low country boil, and even award winning chocolate chip cookies amongst so many other dishes. More than that he loved to cook for people, feeding and bringing people together.
Most of all, Donald loved life and loved people. Singing, cooking, drinking and partying with others, traveling and experiencing all that he could, or even just having a nice quiet conversation with the people that he loved. If the afterlife exists, then Don is relaxing on a cosmic beach somewhere listening to ELO and Jimmy Buffett and drinking a Myers rum and Diet Coke in a tall glass with no lime.
Donald is survived by his children, Ben and his wife Kim, Melanie, Casey and Jordan; his grandchildren Benjamin, Abigail, Elijah, Charlie, and Nina; his sister Judy; and his ex-wives Pamela, Diane, and Judy”

A Memorial Toast will be held Sunday, December 19th at 1-3:30 at Bullfeathers, located at 10535 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37922. It will be casual with all the things he loved: Burgers, friends, music, and karaoke.”

Gentry Griffey Funeral Chapel is honored to serve the Taylor family and invites you to view and sign the online registry. 

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