Jennye Taylor

Mrs. Jennye’ Ellis Cureton Taylor, a native of Due West, South Carolina, and daughter of the late Robert N. Ellis, Sr., and Susie Morton Ellis, passed on August 27, 2017.

At the age of eight, she joined Mt. Zion Presbyterian Church in Due West and remained a staunch Presbyterian until becoming a member of St. Paul Baptist Church in Laurens, South Carolina, after marrying the late Rev. Boyce Lee Cureton, Sr. To this union were born two sons: Boyce Lee Cureton, Jr., and the late John Vertram Cureton. In April 1980, she was united in marriage to Rev. Zoel G. Taylor, Sr., after which she became a member of John Wesley United Methodist Church in Greenville, South Carolina.

After graduating from Harbison Institute in Irmo, SC, and Barber-Scotia Junior College in Concord, North Carolina, Mrs. Taylor received her A.B. Degree from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a major in English. She completed the requirements for a M.A. Degree in English at Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia. After beginning her teaching career, the recognition of one of the greatest educational problems took her back to school. She qualified as a reading specialist by completing the requirements for a M.S. Degree at Indiana University, in Bloomington, Indiana. Her forty years of teaching in a variety if situations made her keenly aware of the educational needs of students.

Having worked with young adults at Harbison Junior College in Irmo, South Carolina, and in the adult education program at Greenville Technical College, as well as having taught at the high school level, Mrs. Taylor dedicated herself to work at the middle school level. There she taught students having reading problems and students having mastered reading skills beyond their grade levels. She was head of a pilot reading program at Hillcrest Middle School and was Hillcrest Middle School’s 1979 Teacher of the Year.

Not only did Mrs. Taylor work hard to become knowledgeable in her teaching fields; she was also dedicated to extra-curricular professional work. She served as President of the Grenville Area IRA, was a member of the State Secondary Reading Committee that prepared the curriculum planning guide, TEACHING READING IN THE S.C SECONDARY SCHOOLS; and she also participated with a committee that prepared the section, “Basic Communication”, in the GREENVILLE COUNTY SCHOOLS’ ENGLISH CURRICULUM GUIDE. She was an active member of the NEA, SCEA, GCTA, American Association of University Women, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, a public service organization.

However dedicated Mrs. Taylor was to professional work, she was even more dedicated to her students. That she quickly gained their respect was evidenced when students at Bryson High School chose her twice as Star Teacher of the Year in a recognition program sponsored by the Greater Greenville Chamber of Commerce.

Left to cherish many fond memories of such a wonderful woman are one son, Boyce (Ghitana) Cureton of Marietta, Georgia; three grand-children, Kenneth Coleman of Wood-river, Illinois, Reginald Coleman of Marietta, Georgia and Jeremy Coleman of Bloomington, Illinois; twelve great-grandchildren and a host of other relatives and friends.