Taylor named Senior of the Month for June

The Russellville Senior Center has chosen Guyuna Greenhill Taylor, 81, as the Senior of the Month for June.
Taylor was born in the Rock Creek community in Colbert County and went to Rock Creek School through the ninth grade before transferring to Cherokee Vocational High School.
Growing up, Taylor knew the importance of hard work and responsibility.
“We were farmers and we grew everything we ate,” she said. “We also had cotton we harvested as our income for when we needed to buy other things.
“I was the oldest child, so I had a lot of responsibility. I had to plow and harvest just like the boys. My mother also canned a lot and she taught me how to can.
“I think all of that responsibility prepared me for the day when I would have a family and taught me the importance of working for what you have.”
But Taylor’s childhood wasn’t all work. She said one of the things she enjoyed doing the most in her free time was singing.
“I’ve been singing all my life,” she said. “My daddy was a music teacher in the community and when the crops were between the harvest and the gathering, he would teach music classes.
“I went to every single class he taught and I loved it.”
In September of 1948, Taylor married her husband, Thomas Edward Taylor, who she met at church.
Thomas was a Franklin County native, so after they married, Taylor moved to Franklin County to the Frankfort community.
Taylor put her faming experience to good use and she and her husband became farmers part-time. Thomas also worked as a crane operator at Reynolds until his retirement.
“I loved to garden and can foods,” she said. “I also held a job outside the home for nine years in the early 1970s at the County Agent’s Office with the nutrition program.”
Taylor also put her love for singing to good use when she and Thomas, along with several others, organized the Lost Creek Bluegrass Band in the late 1980s.
“We loved going to bluegrass festivals and singing all over the area,” she said. “We had a lot of fun doing that.”
Taylor also helped organize the Frankfort Extension Homemaker’s Club in 1960, and she is still an active member of the club today.
When she isn’t busy with the Homemaker’s Club, these days Taylor enjoys visiting shut-ins, attending Shady Grove Church of Christ in Frankfort and spending time with her family.
The Taylors have two children, Barney Taylor and his wife, Gene; and Gail Anderson and her husband, Jerry. They have three grandchildren, Matt Taylor, Chris Taylor and Brandie Mitchell (and husband, Brian); and six great-grandchildren, Michael, Dakota, Brayden, Bryson, Kesslie and Olivia.
“We love getting to spend time with our family,” Taylor said. “They means so much to us.”
Taylor said the people they see on a regular basis at the Senior Center are like a second family to them as well.
“We love getting to see all the people who come to the Senior Center,” Taylor said. “There’s good food, good fellowship, and I like to play Rook sometimes. It’s just a good place for us to go.”
Senior Center Director Cathye Garrison said the feeling is mutual.
“You can always count on Mr. and Mrs. Taylor to be here with a smile on their faces,” Garrison said. “Everyone loves to be around them.”