Today is a sad day for the Scottish Tartans Museum. We will be closed today, Nov. 15, so that the staff and volunteers may attend the funeral of one of our longest-serving leaders, and dear friends.

Walter J. Taylor, age 88, of Highlands passed away Sunday November 13, 2011 at Fidelia Eckerd Nursing Home. I will quote from his obituary.

He was born November 8, 1923 in Staten Island, New York to Walter J. and Ellefair Crunkleton Taylor, and has made Highlands, North Carolina his home for the past 37 years.

He was valedictorian of Curtis High School graduating class of 1942, Staten Island, New York. Upon completing Maritime and Electronics schools, he was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Coast Guard in 1944. A veteran of WWII, he retired as a lieutenant from the United States Maritime service in 1969.

Walter was a trustee and founding director of the Scottish Tartans Museum of Franklin, North Carolina, serving from its inception in 1988 until July 2010. He was a member of the Veteran Wireless Operation Association, the Society of Wireless Pioneers, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Scottish Tartans Society, and the Highlands Lions Club.

Surviving are his wife, Catherine Patterson Taylor, daughters Dianne A. Taylor of Asheville, NC, Melinda T. Musumarra and Husband Paul of Cary, NC, step-son James T. Vinson and wife Karen of Fort Mill, SC, and stepdaughters Margaret V. Bryson of Fort Mill, SC and Sandra K. Vinson of Highlands. Also surviving are four grandchildren; Mark Musumarra, Barbara Musumarra, Josh Bryson (Mandi) and Elizabeth Baker (Michael).

He was preceded in death by his first wife Barbara James Taylor of Highlands, NC and a brother, John N. Taylor of Tom’s River, NJ.

Funeral Services will be held Tuesday November 15, 2011 at 11:00am at the Chapel of Bryant-Grant Funeral Home in Highlands. Burial will be in the Moravian Cemetery in Staten Island, NY.

Bryant-Grant Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Online condolences are available by visiting bryantgrantfuneralhome.com or by email.
Many visitors to our museum over the years will remember Walter as the tall, older gentleman who always took the time to answer any question, loved to talk about Scottish history, especially military history, as well as local Appalachian history and culture, and the American Civil War.

Walter was a man from another era who often times expressed feeling rather out of place in our modern times. He sometimes said to me that he felt like a spaceship picked him up in the 1940s and dropped him off on an unrecognizable planet.

He was a unique character who meant so much to all of us at the Scottish Tartans Museum. Even after he retired from our Board of Trustees last year (as the longest serving member), he continued to come in to the museum as a volunteer tour guide at least once a week until his declining health prevented him from doing so.

Please join us all in honoring Walter and expressing our condolences to his family.