[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 146 (Thursday, November 15, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1770]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO DR. WELTON I. TAYLOR

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOBBY L. RUSH

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 15, 2012

  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Welton I. 
Taylor, Ph.D. A distinguished scientist, WWII liaison pilot, and civil 
rights advocate, Dr. Taylor died in Chicago on November 1, 2012, just 
11 days shy of his 93rd birthday. Born November 12, 1919, in 
Birmingham, Alabama, to Frederick Enslen Taylor and Cora Lee Brewer, 
Taylor was still an infant when his family fled to Chicago as a result 
of an ultimatum his mother received from the Ku Klux Klan. Throughout 
Dr. Taylor's life, the story of his family's trauma fueled his desire 
to succeed in every endeavor and to fight racism wherever he found it.
  Graduating from DuSable High School as class Valedictorian in 1937, 
Dr. Taylor attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 
thanks to scholarships from the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. In his 
senior year he became the first black cadet in the University of 
Illinois' Advanced ROTC Field Artillery Unit. He graduated in 1941 with 
an A.B. in Bacteriology and a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the 
Field Artillery. Only 28 days after following orders to report for 
active duty at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Taylor became the first black field 
artillery officer in the history of the post.
  Taylor had always dreamt of becoming a pilot, however, and when a 
flight instructor at the Lawton, Oklahoma airfield offered to teach 
him, he jumped at the chance. Taylor took lessons during his off-duty 
hours and was rewarded when the Army subsequently sent him to the 
Second Army Air Force's Pittsburg, Kansas flight school to become a 
Field Artillery liaison pilot. Taylor was eventually deployed to the 
South Pacific with the all-black 596th Field Artillery Battalion, 93rd 
Infantry Division and flew liaison and reconnaissance missions in the 
South Pacific until the end of World War II.
  During his 5\1/2\ years of service, Taylor boldly challenged 
institutional racism in the Army at every turn--most notably protesting 
the Army's discriminatory practices regarding the admission of black 
officers to the officers' clubs. Taylor suffered numerous racial 
affronts during active duty, but still joined the Illinois National 
Guard Reserves at the end of the war, rising to the rank of Major 
before resigning his commission in 1952.
  Upon his return stateside, Taylor married his longtime girlfriend, 
Jayne Kemp Taylor, a graduate of Howard University. The couple entered 
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign shortly thereafter to 
pursue their graduate degrees where Taylor earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in 
Bacteriology on the G.I. Bill. While on campus, the couple teamed with 
white veterans and their wives to force the integration of local 
restaurants, movie theaters, and swimming pools. Champaign-Urbana was 
changed forever by their efforts, and when the Taylors returned to 
Chicago after graduation, they continued their civil rights activism. 
They became one of the first black families to integrate the Chatham 
neighborhood on Chicago's South Side and Dr. Taylor played an active 
role in civic life. He served as President of the Chatham Avalon Park 
Community Council, founded the Episcopal Society for Cultural and 
Racial Unity, and received the Brotherhood Award of the National 
Conference of Christians and Jews.
  As a scientist, Dr. Taylor had a remarkable career spanning close to 
fifty years. He taught microbiology at the medical schools of both the 
University of Illinois and Northwestern University, did ground-breaking 
research on bacteriological contamination in the nation's food supply, 
helped France and Britain eradicate Salmonella in their imported foods, 
became microbiologist-in-chief at Chicago's Children's Memorial 
Hospital, and served as consulting microbiologist to Resurrection 
Hospital and eleven other hospitals in the Chicago area. He earned four 
patents, published forty articles in scientific journals (becoming the 
first black editor of several of them), and developed a product adopted 
by the Food & Drug Administration, which is still used today by 
microbiology laboratories the world over to certify foods Salmonella-
free. In 1985, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta named a 
bacterium Enterobacter taylorae in honor of Dr. Taylor and a British 
colleague.
  Following the death of his wife, Jayne, in 2005, Dr. Taylor joined 
the Chicago ``DODO'' Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. to once again 
pursue his lifelong passion: flying. Always one of the organization's 
most vocal and articulate supporters, Taylor helped fellow pilots 
introduce inner-city children to the joys and challenges of flight. He 
lectured extensively to corporate, civic, and academic groups across 
the Midwest and spoke passionately about the triumphs and frustrations 
faced by the Tuskegee Airmen and other black servicemen during World 
War II. Taylor received the Congressional Gold Medal with the Tuskegee 
Airmen in Washington, DC in 2006.
  Fully committed to educating succeeding generations, Dr. Taylor 
published his long-awaited memoir and history, Two Steps from Glory, in 
July of 2012. He proudly unveiled it at the huge air show in Oshkosh, 
Wisconsin (EAA Airventure), just days before being diagnosed with the 
cancer that took his life.
  Dr. Taylor is survived by his daughters, Karyn and Shelley, by his 
nephew, Herbert Wallace, and his niece, Frances Austin.
  On behalf of my wife Carolyn and the constituents of Illinois' First 
Congressional District, I extend my condolences to Dr. Taylor's family 
and I want for them to know that they are in our thoughts and prayers.

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