Johanna Williams Taylor

Johanna Williams Taylor died May 25, 2022, after a life of service and love. Born in Bremerhaven, Germany March 6, 1928, and lived in Hamburg until age 8, Johanna was the daughter of Richard Smith Williams and Ernestine Pechbrenner Williams. She was educated in the Hampton and Newport News, Virginia schools and attended James Madison University and the College of William and Mary.

After teaching elementary school in Hampton for five years and raising two sons, she came to New Bern with her husband, the late Donald R.Taylor, who worked at Tryon Palace. Ms. Taylor was a teaching assistant at Bridgeton Elementary School.

Mrs. Taylor was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She was active in the life of First Presbyterian Church in New Bern, serving among other roles as a deacon, Women of the Church president, and circle member.

Mrs. Taylor was preceded in death by her husband of 61 years, Donald Ransone Taylor, an infant son, Donald Ransone Taylor, Jr., her parents, and a brother, James Smith Williams She is survived by two sons and their wives, David Littleton Taylor and wife Carol of New Bern; Stephen Dudley Taylor and wife Deborah of Carolina Beach; four grandchildren, Kathleen Taylor Oliver and husband Edward of Bayview; Rebecca Taylor Waugh and husband William of Wake Forest; Paige Morgan Moise and husband Troy of Zebulon; and Richard Mattison Morgan and wife Emily of Raleigh; and great-grandchildren Jackson Garner Moise, Hunter Morgan Moise, Tristan William Waugh, Eleanor Anna Morgan, Wyatt Mattison Morgan, and Erik Donald Oliver.

Memorials may be directed to First Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 1069, New Bern, NC 28563.

A Service of Witness to the Resurrection will be held at 1:00 p.m. on June 11 at First Presbyterian Church in New Bern. The family will receive friends at a reception following the memorial service in the Session House of the church.