Veteran from Penn Hills enjoyed work as county police officer
Throughout his life, Howard Taylor was known as a no-nonsense, law-and-order guy who could be tough when the occasion arose.
And this description proved true when, as a young Marine, Mr. Taylor was fighting on the beaches of Okinawa during World War II or in later years serving as an Allegheny County Police officer.
“Dad was only 17 years old when he enlisted in the Marines,” said his daughter, Donna Lee Taylor of Penn Hills. “And like many of the men who fought in World War II, he never forgot the men that he served with who were killed in action.”
Howard Elmer Taylor of Penn Hills died on Thursday, May 6, 2010, in Forbes Regional Hospital in Monroeville. He was 85.
Mr. Taylor, a native of Penn Hills, was one of two children in the family of William J. and Cora Woozley Taylor.
After graduating from Penn Hills High School in 1942, Mr. Taylor enlisted the Marine Corps.
After his discharge in 1945, he married Martha Irene Kopelic, and was employed by the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad prior to becoming a county police officer.
“My father was an outdoorsman who enjoyed deer hunting,” said his daughter. “And that was one of the reasons he was assigned to many of the county parks. He also rode a horse during the county fairs.”
Her father also was employed by West Penn Allegheny Health System as a Forbes Regional Campus security guard.
Mr. Taylor was preceded in death by his wife in 2009 and a sister, Edna Claire VanClief.
Friends will be received from 4 to 8 p.m. today in the Maurice L. Knee Ltd. Funeral Home, 7663 Saltsburg Road (across from S&T Bank), Plum, where a blessing service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday.
Interment with military honors will be at Plum Creek Cemetery.