Eloise Lott Taylor
Hamilton always remained steadfast in her heart.
Eloise Lott Taylor, longtime Hamiltonian, mother of seven Hamilton High School attendees, five Hamilton High School graduates, grandmother of 18 grandchildren and 19 (and growing!) great-grandchildren, passed Thursday morning, Jan. 14, 2021. She had celebrated her 90th birthday just three months before, on Oct. 3.
She grew up in the areas of Freestone County, with her beloved only sister, Daughta, and five brothers, the twins, known as “Big” and “Little” Arthur, Jack, J.T. and Oscar.
Her delightful stories of their many escapades together as children were an endless source of colorful delight that she would share with both her own children and her many nieces and nephews who adored their “Aunt Ella.”
The daughter of Raymond Lee Lott and Maude Essie Patterson of Wortham, Eloise was married to Judson Collman Taylor on May 2, 1949, and she became the much beloved daughter-in-law of Judson Gentry Taylor Sr. and “Kitty” Collman Taylor, with Judson, Sr. being a 1916 Hamilton High School graduate himself, and the son of Hamilton’s first sheriff, Henry Lee Taylor.
Throughout Hamilton, this town she loved so very much—and therefore, her children loved so very much—are a myriad of streets that carry the names of former family members and ancestors - “Henry,” “Lee,” “Gentry” and “Taylor.”
Eloise was known for her lovely smile and keen, dry sense of humor, lovingly referred to as “Eloise’s low-key spunk.” She knew the perfect cup of coffee had just enough cream “to make it pretty” and that family fun should forever remain an utmost priority. Always singing, her voice rivaled Patsy Cline’s, and she embodied an amazing resilience from which all continue to draw inspiration.
Our mother (as though she didn’t have enough of her own children roaming the hallways of her home) could — and always did — find room for any of her children’s friends, any of her nieces or nephews who needed a place to go, a warm meal to eat or an open ear and heart with which to listen to their problems and their worries.
In other words, “The Taylor Inn” was always open.
Later — for her grandchildren — her house in Hamilton was a home-away-from-home. The smell, the comfort, Sloppy Joes on toasted buns, split pea soup, endless cups of that “pretty coffee,” always a trip with the grandkids to Dutchman’s Hidden Valley for ice cream and jellybeans or a trip to the grocery store on the square, the kids’ choice of sugary cereal and Kool-Aid mix and lunch at Storm’s.
So when asked where she would prefer her final celebration and resting place to be, no wonder Ella responded, “Where we were always the happiest.”
So come Spring, when the trees are budding and the flowers blooming, the Taylor Family will be hosting in (of course!) Hamilton on behalf of the most magnificent mother ever, “A Beautiful Life” celebration in her honor.
Please join us April 10!
Eloise is survived by seven children, Chauncey Taylor of Dallas, Donald Taylor and wife Cathy of Martin, Georgia, Wendy Taylor Miller and fiancé Steve Wolf of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Roger Miller, Cindy Taylor Blakley and husband Mark of Houston, Kitty Taylor Hinojosa and husband Michael Hinojosa of Dallas, Judson Gentry Taylor II, and wife Jodie of Arlington, and John Kenneth Taylor and wife Laura of Elizabethtown, Kentucky; 18 grandchildren, Paul Taylor, Donald Taylor, Genevie Taylor, Liz Taylor Tello and husband Juan, Ashley Taylor and wife Jen, Geoffrey Taylor and wife Jillian, Jessica Miller, Adam Miller, Sara Blakley-Cosser and husband Ryan, Jesse Blakley and wife Marissa, John David Blakley and wife Stephanie, Alex Hinojosa and wife Jeni, Michael Hinojosa, Taylor Hinojosa, Judson Gentry Taylor III, Garrett Taylor and wife Victoria, Preston Taylor and Ian Taylor; and 19 great-grandchildren.
Memorial donations can be made to Community Hospice of Texas, the non-profit organization that so lovingly helped in Eloise’s final care:
Online at Chot.org, or mail to 6100 Western Place, Fort Worth, TX 76107.
