[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 125 (Tuesday, September 8, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2199]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         IN CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE OF FRANCIS ``BUTCH'' TAYLOR

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JACKIE SPEIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, September 8, 2009

  Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, 100 years ago, Francis ``Butch'' Taylor 
was born in Akron, Iowa and shortly after, made the journey west with 
his family to California. While completing his graduate degree in 
Social Work at the University of California, Berkeley, he married Betty 
Lou Taylor. Intrigued by their common last name, they spoke, fell in 
love and married in 1940. A year later Butch was hired as the Assistant 
Field Director for the American Red Cross and assigned to the Presidio 
Army base in San Francisco.
  After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Mr. Taylor was indispensable in 
keeping up with the rapidly increasing responsibilities of the American 
Red Cross as service to the military grew exponentially. In 1943, he 
was dispatched with 36 other Red Cross employees on a Liberty ship--
part of a hundred-ship convoy to Algeria. Upon transferring to British 
troopships in the Mediterranean, the convoy was attacked by German 
planes, resulting in the loss of three Red Cross men and more than 
1,100 American troops. Butch continued on to Bombay and Calcutta, India 
and eventually arrived in southern China, where he became Field 
Supervisor in charge of Red Cross Services to the armed forces in 
China.
  After the Communists took power in China, Mr. Taylor returned home to 
California and became manager of the San Mateo Chapter of the Red 
Cross, later assisting in its merger with the San Francisco Chapter.
  Madam Speaker, I owe a personal debt to this remarkable man. In 1965, 
when I was a teenage volunteer with the Red Cross Youth, Butch Taylor 
inspired me with his passion for public service and encouraged me to 
chart a similar course. Like so many others, my life would be very 
different were it not for Butch Taylor.
  Upon his retirement from the Red Cross, Butch went to work for FEMA, 
serving the Western Region--including Guam, Hawaii and Samoa--and 
assisted with floods in the Sacramento Delta and other local 
emergencies throughout the 1970s.
  Butch and Betty Lou have two children, Mike and Trish, and a 
grandson, Mark. Butch continues to be involved with the Burlingame 
Rotary Club and still attends functions every Monday. Next year, Butch 
and Betty Lou will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary.
  Madam Speaker, few men or women can say with absolute certainty that 
their service made the world a better place. Butch Taylor is one who 
can. And for that, we are all eternally grateful.

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