Mary Lanelle Waddill Taylor

Mary Lanelle Waddill Taylor, of Clifton, passed away on October 4, 2022. She was born on November 6, 1934, in Louisville, KY, to Hubert Peyton Waddill and Mary Ethel Barnett Waddill. Lanelle’s father was a Presbyterian minister and the family lived in Wortham, Garland, Jacksonville and San Antonio during her childhood. She had three brothers she adored and admired, Edward, Douglas and Steven. Many of Lanelle’s earliest and happiest memories were the many holidays, summer vacations and other family occasions she spent on the farm near Valley Mills homesteaded in 1857 by Dr. A.M. Barnett and belonging to her grandparents Prentice Hall Barnett and Nellie Lane Barnett. Lanelle especially loved camping with her family beginning around 1938 under the oak trees at “Waddle Inn” on Hog Creek which adjoined the Barnett farm.

Lanelle graduated from Trinity University in 1956 with a major in Christian education. Lanelle married the Rev. Norman W. Taylor in 1963, a widower, and became mother of Norman and Peter, “two fine boys she hadn’t had to born,” in the words of her mother Mary Ethel and then mother of sons Jonathan and Paul.

Lanelle spent her career working in a variety of positions in the church and related institutions serving people from preschoolers to elders, including a formative year in New York City and seven years at the Presbyterian Church’s Mo Ranch. Lanelle and Norm retired in 2002 and moved to Clifton to be near her extended family and Hog Creek.

Lanelle was preceded in death by her parents; beloved husband Norm; son Norman; and brothers Edward and Douglas.

Lanelle had a loving, generous and wise spirit that drew people from all walks of life to her. She also had an insatiable curiosity about the history of the people and land she loved, as her sons joke that she had stopped at nearly every historical marker in Texas. Near the end of her life, Lanelle told family and friends gathered around her, “I’ve had a good life. I’m a rich woman, with three wonderful sons and five beautiful granddaughters.”

She is survived by her brother Steven; three sons Peter, Jonathan and Paul; daughters-in-law Wendy Starnes and Bridget Julian; and granddaughters Morgan, Mollie, Gracie, Maeve and Lucy.

A memorial service will be held October 15 at 10 a.m. at “Waddle Inn” on Hog Creek at 1475 E. Middle Bosque and she will be interred at Valley Mills Cemetery.

Any memorial gifts can be made to the Barnett Cabin Fund or the choice of the giver.

For the full obituary, please see https://www. fossfuneralhome.com/obits.