Among the daily activities of the Rev. Bert Taylor was translating a passage of New Testament Scripture from Greek into English. Saturday he also found time to fiddle with his violin.
“He was working on a Bach fugue,” said his son-in-law, McArthur “Mac” Irvin of Atlanta. “He finally got the fingering right, he said.”
The violin work and Scripture translations were just a few of the ways Taylor kept his mind sharp, he often told his son-in-law.
Hubert Vance “Bert” Taylor of Atlanta died Sunday in his sleep, less than five months from his 100th birthday.
“He didn’t care much about turning 100. That wasn’t as important to him,” Irvin said. “But there were a bunch of us rooting for him to make it.”
A memorial service is planned for 11 a.m. Thursday at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Atlanta. SouthCare Cremation and Funeral Society, Marietta, is in charge of arrangements.
For 30 years Taylor taught at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, where he earned a master’s degree in 1946. He also earned degrees from Lafayette College, Westminster Choir College and a doctorate in public address from Northwestern University.
At Columbia Taylor was professor of worship, speech and hymnody. His teaching methods were known throughout the campus, said the Rev. George Stroup, professor of theology at Columbia Theological.
“He helped people teach and preach clearly and articulately,” Stroup said. “He was very well-known, for those three decades, for being able to help people who had speech difficulties and those who would often have trouble being understood when they spoke. He was famous for the way he would get people to do that.”
Taylor’s methods included having students place a sliver of wine cork between their back teeth, while reciting Psalm 100. The result was showing students how to use their entire mouths while speaking, Stroup said.
Not only did Taylor teach, but he also established a choir at the seminary that provided music during worship and sang at other churches.
“He had a very high standard of excellence for music and worship that he transferred to other people,” Irvin said. “He worked with literally hundreds of ministers.”
A native of Ash Grove, Mo., Taylor came to Atlanta in 1941 to be the minister of music at Central Presbyterian Church, a post he held until 1958. He also served as an assistant pastor at the church from 1947 until 1964. His wife of 72 years, Claribel “Claire” Taylor, was the church’s organist from 1941 until 1963.
“He was a very busy man,” Claire Taylor said of her husband. “He loved the church and Columbia. And I loved him.”
In addition to his wife, Taylor is survived by a son, Hubert Vance Taylor Jr. of Anchorage, Alaska, and Phoenix, Ariz.; daughter Jan Taylor Irvin of Atlanta; five grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
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