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Norris Marvin Taylor, Sr.
b.28 Mar 1921 Center Twp, Cloud Co, Kansas
d.24 Jun 1997 Mercy Hospital, Manhattan, Riley Co, Kans
Family tree▼ (edit)
m. 23 Dec 1908
Facts and Events
TWIN: Was a twin with sister: N. Margaret (Taylor) Nolan. NAME: Actually did not use Sr. and was not part his real name. I have it Sr. here so he won't be confused by folks with his son: Norris, Jr. Rather than be known as Sr. and Jr., Norris thought it more appropriate to be known as Nor and his son as Riss, splitting Norris in two. Those are their family names. NORRIS. There is a Norris Chartier, 72 years old in Concordia in 1910 census, who looks to be a likely candidate to be Lucile (Chartier) Taylor's granddad. Could this be the source of Norris for Norris Taylor and for Lynn Norris Taylor?? All Norris Taylor remembered is that he was named for a neighbor. OCCUPATION: Certified Public Accountant. He was one of the few, and one of the last persons awarded the CPA certificate without a college education. He passed the grueling two and a half day test by becoming self-taught. EDUCATION: Graduated Concordia, Kansas High School, 1939. OUTSIDE INTERESTS: Love of Westcliffe, Colorado and the surrounding mountains. Loved history. Hadn't missed a summer in Westcliffe in over 40 years, from the early 1950's through 1996. BIOGRAPHY: Norris Taylor, Sr. was born a twin, March 28, 1921 and six months later contracted polio. The doctors said he wouldn't live and he did. Then they said he wouldn't walk, and he did. So, he beat the odds. He grew up in and around Concordia, KS. He graduated from Concordia, KS, High School in 1939 and in short order decided to move to Wichita, to the big city. There he washed dishes in the Little Palace coffee shop in downtown Wichita, while he studied accounting via a La Salle correspondence course. We have a menu from that coffee shop that shows under the heading: Sunday Dinner Menu, including dessert: "Roast Leg of Lamb with Mint Jelly" for 45 cents. Also, under Specials: "Hot Creamed Chicken Sandwich with Potatoes and Gravy": 15 cents. He eventually learned accounting well enough to go to work for Lunsford and Barnes, a CPA firm in Wichita. It was about this time that he met and married Doris Louise Baldwin. This was during World War II. Norris was not eligible for military duty because of his polio. Norris and Doris had Norris, Jr., (Riss) and Cindy during their stay in Wichita. They lived at 1901 1/2 West Maple, Wichita, KS. After the war, he got an offer he could not refuse to leave public accounting and go to work for the the Hickerson brothers (Lep and Colonel) in Eldorado, KS. They owned a pipeline company and an oil field trucking company. After a couple of years, he moved to Great Bend, Kansas, where the Hickerson Brothers setup their Jayhawk Construction Company pipeline yard and also their Hickerson Bros truck depot. Norris was their chief financial officer. The family lived on the property where the Jayhawk Pipeline company had their pipeline yard, on the north edge of town at 2401 W 24th Street. They moved there about 1949. Terryl was born shortly after they moved there, but Doris went back to Wichita to keep the same doctor to have Terryl. Cash was born four years later while they were living on 24th Street. After about six years, approximately 1955, the Jayhawk Construction yard was sold and the family moved into town, at 1217 Madison Street. Norris was still chief financial officer for the trucking company: Hickerson Bros. After only a couple of years, however, Norris decided to strike out on his own and start a public accounting practice. He started his practice with only one client: Richard Hoover, a geologist who had just started up a drilling company. He went to his banker of several years for a loan to help start his business and the banker told him he was crazy to leave a regular job to start an accounting practice. Norris left that bank and never went back. He went to the other bank in town and got his loan. At the same time, Norris had his first home built that he owned. He had trouble getting his mortgage approved because he didn't have a credit rating. He had never borrowed a dime in his life until he had to get a loan for his home and to start his business (almost both at the same time) and the mortgage loan companies just couldn't understand that. He purchased a new 1951 DeSoto and paid for it with one check in 1951. The family then moved into their new home at 2107-25th Street, approximately 1957. Shortly afterwards Tami was born, on September 13, 1957. At this time, Norris, at the age of 36, was spending his time studying at home for the CPA examination. This grueling two and a half day exam has one of the highest failure rates among professional examinations. But, at that time, it did not require a college degree. Norris past the exam before they changed the rules and was one of the last persons granted the CPA certificate without a college education. In the meantime, his practice was growing. He had obtained one of the leading insurance agents in Great Bend: Bruce Buehler, as well as one of the top grossing service stations in town. In the meantime, his reputation was growing within the oil industry as a CPA who knew his stuff. He developed a specialty in the tax problems of the oil industry. He was appointed to the Taxation Committee of the IOGA, the Independent Oil and Gas Association, and served on that committee for several years. That committee carried on lobbying and educating activities with elected officials, to explain the oil industry and its unique problems from the perspective of the "little fella", the independent oil and gas producer. In the mid 1960's, he and Fred Maneth, a public accountant in Great Bend joined forces as Maneth and Taylor. Fred later became mayor of Great Bend for awhile. In the 1970's, Norris got another offer he could not refuse, from his very first client in his public accounting practice: Dick Hoover. Dick invited Norris to move to Wichita, now that the kids were gone, and become the Chief Financial Officer of his drilling company, Chief Drilling Company. He did this and Norris and Doris lived in Wichita for approximately 15 years, from about the mid 70's through 1992. They lived on the east side of town at 8602 Brookhollow. Norris worked until he was about 70, about 1991, at which time he moved to Manhattan, Kansas and lived at 5752 Elbo View Drive, in a community surrounding Lake Elbo, a beautiful, wooded area, a few miles east of Manhattan, KS. He passed away on June 24, 1997, after an illness that had lasted about 2 months, primarily from complications arising from old age and post-polio syndrome. OBITUARY: Manhattan Mercury June 26, 1997 (Also in Great Bend paper): "Norris M. Taylor, 76, of Manhattan, died Tuesday, June 24 at the Mercy Health Center on College Avenue. He was born March 28, 1921, near Concordia, Kan. Mr. Taylor worked in accounting and finance in the Wichita and Great Bend areas from 1943 until 1992, most recently as chief financial officer of Chief Drilling Company in Wichita. He had been a Manhattan resident for the past four years. His professional memberships included the American Institute of CPA's and the Kansas Society of CPA's. He was also a member of the International Oil and Gas Tax Committee. Outside of profession, he enjoyed horseback riding on the mountain trails of Colorado and had a love of history and poetry. He married Doris L. Baldwin Nov 12, 1942, in Wichita. She survives of Manhattan. Other survivors include: three daughters, Cynthia Taylor-Dudding, Colorado Springs, Colo., Terryl Quinn, Denver, Colo., and Tami Yeager, Manhattan; two sons, Norris M. Taylor, Jr., Torrance, Calif., and Cash Taylor, Wichita; three sisters, Margaret Nolan, San Jacinto, Calif., Jeanne Kraemer, Denver, and Lois Drury, Hemet, Calif. Four grandchildren also survive. Memorial services will be 10 a.m. Saturday at the Edwards-Yorgensen-Meloan Funeral Chapel with Chaplain Lisa Senuta officiating. A memorial has been established for the Mercy Health Center on College Avenue Intensive Care Unit. Contributions may be left in care of the Edwards-Yorgensen-Meloan Funeral Home, 1616 Poyntz Ave., Manhattan, Kan, 66502." References
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