Ann Taylor – Belgreen’s lifelong cheerleader

BELGREEN — For nearly nine decades, Ann Taylor has called Belgreen home — building a life rooted in school, church and family.

“I’m 89 years old and thankful for every day of it,” Taylor said. “I grew up out in the country and I rode the bus to school when I was young. I’ve always been a big supporter of the Belgreen community and the school.”

Belgreen School offered grades one through 12 when she attended, later adding kindergarten and pre-K. History was her favorite subject, and she loved spending time in the library.

Home economics was another highlight, where she learned to cook and sew with her mother’s help and her teacher’s guidance.

Taylor became a cheerleader in the early 1950s when organized sports for girls were limited. She mostly cheered for the boys basketball team, which was Belgreen’s biggest sport.

“I was a cheerleader the last two or three years,” she said, “and I loved it.”

From classrooms and cheer squads to family dinners and church pews, Taylor’s story is woven into the fabric of Belgreen. Her life has centered on faith, family, school and community — and she has never stopped finding ways to stay involved.

She graduated from Belgreen in May 1954, and by September she was working in the Franklin County probate judge’s office in Russellville. She loved the work and stayed until her second daughter was born.

“I quit and was a stayat- home mom for a while,” Taylor said.

Later, she returned to Belgreen as a substitute teacher. She also worked part time at Mars Hill preschool in Russellville.

“I’ve just always been a person to be involved,” she said.

She grew up attending Belgreen Church of Christ, where she still worships today.

“My church family, they’re wonderful,” she said. “Everybody, if somebody gets sick, everybody pitches in. They bring you food, they send you cards. I think I got maybe 40 cards while I was sick not long ago. I feel part of my church family.”

Taylor and her late husband, John Taylor, helped strengthen the community in other ways. In the 1980s, they worked with neighbors to organize the local volunteer fire department, raising funds to build the fire hall.

Family has always been at the heart of her days. She and John raised three children. Their daughters became teachers, and the tradition was carried forward to grandchildren and even a great-grandson who now teaches at Samford University in Birmingham.

Her son passed away in 1998.

Today, Taylor has three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren — three boys ages 6, 5 and 3, along with two girls, one 16 and one just two weeks old. She treasures time with them, whether it’s playing ball, coloring chalk drawings on her driveway, or simply reading and singing together.

“My little granddaughter one day wrote and she colored it, and it was so pretty — ‘I love my grandmother,’” she said.

She also loves hosting Sunday dinners after church, gathering her family for meals of roast, chicken, rolls and garden vegetables.

“That keeps a family close,” she said. “I can’t imagine not doing it.”

Her love of cooking traces back to her mother, Alma Hester, who taught her to make tea cakes, chicken and dumplings, apple pies and fried peach pies. Taylor still makes fried peach pies for every holiday.

“My mom was the best cook in the world,” she said. “See how blessed I am.”

Taylor has lived in the same house for more than 60 years, sitting on the porch to watch the world go by. Next to her rocker is a sign that says: “Welcome to the porch – where wasting time is considered time well spent.”

She says Belgreen has changed in some ways but not in others.

“I think the love that people have for each other is still there, and the respect is still there,” she said.

She especially enjoyed seeing the recent Belgreen parade, which brought neighbors of all ages together.

“I just thought it was great for this community to have this,” she said. “I don’t remember ever having a parade before.”

She added that events like the parade strengthen community bonds.

“I just think it makes a community closer, when you can have things together,” she said. “It’s something you can look forward to each year.”

She jokes about sharing a name with a famous clothing brand.

“I’m not the rich Ann Taylor,” she said. “I’m the rich one with the love and with what matters.”

Taylor still knits and crochets blankets, though she no longer sews. She also reads often, preferring down-to-earth and adventure books over mysteries.

“I just think we can always learn,” she said. “I don’t think we ever get too old to learn.”

Through it all, Taylor says her life has been shaped by simple values that have carried her from childhood to greatgrandchildren.

“First of all, God must be in your life,” she said. “If you have God in your life, you can handle anything.”