Lelia Mae Carling Taylor, age 95, passed away in Fairview, Utah, on November 30, 2013.
She was born October 13, 1918 in Fillmore, Utah, the first of three children, to Charles Veris (Vid) Carling and Lelia Matilda Martindale Carling.
Mae was married for seventy years to Von B Taylor, who passed away January 23, 2008. One grandson, Cory Goodwin, preceded her in death. She is survived by four children, Von J (Joan) Taylor of Providence, Utah, LeeAnne (David) Goodwin of Fairview, Utah, Max (Janice) Taylor of Barstow, California and, Toni (Jim) Faris of Draper, Utah; foster son, Benjamin Upshaw of Albuquerque, New Mexico, eighteen grandchildren, sixty-five great grandchildren, four great-great grandchildren, and a sister, Dixie Williams, of Flowell, Utah.
She attended school in Flowell and Fillmore, Utah, graduating from Millard High School. She spent one year as a student at Utah State Agricultural College in Logan, Utah. She often spoke fondly of this college experience as she encouraged her grandchildren to value their education. Von and Mae were married in the Manti Temple in 1937 and spent seventy years together. She was a working mother for much of her married life, working for twenty-five years as a dental assistant. After retirement in 1983, Von and Mae fulfilled an LDS mission in the Mississippi Jackson Mission, serving in Shreveport, Louisiana.
A devoted Latter-day Saint, Mae was a tireless worker at whatever she was asked to do. She served long and well from teaching Primary and Young Women to being Relief Society president, continuing as a visiting teacher until her ninetieth year. Mae and Von also served for thirteen years as ordinance workers in the Salt Lake Temple. In recent years she involved herself with family history name extraction and indexing, reluctantly slowing down as her eyesight failed.
Mae's talents were numerous. A skillful seamstress, her children grew up with piles of newly made clothing to start each school year. The sewing machine, not the television set, was the centerpiece of the family room. Knitting needles, crochet hooks and quilt frames complemented the sewing machine as she produced unending articles of clothing, quilts and gifts for grandchildren. At Christmastime every year she turned her kitchen into a gingerbread factory for her grandchildren. She also spent countless hours expertly making elaborate wedding cakes for family and friends.
No sacrifice was too great for her family or the Church. Her desire to serve was deeply embedded in her soul, and she was always ready to do more. She has honored her forebearers and her posterity with the goodness of her life.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, December 7, 2013, at 11:00 a.m. at the Mountainville Ward Chapel, 461 North 300 West, Mount Pleasant, Utah. There will be a viewing at 9:30 a.m. Interment will follow the services in the Fillmore City Cemetery, 350 East 600 South, Fillmore, Utah. Online condolences may be made at www.LarkinCares.com
