Keith and Carmen Taylor, who will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary next year, met in 1951 at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He was an Indiana-born senior and she was a college freshman from the Island of Guam. After Keith graduated from Antioch with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, he enlisted in the US Air Force and they were married shortly thereafter. Their respective choice of Antioch was based in part on its unique cooperative work program, and the school’s hallmark values of gender equality and individual expression are reflected in the people they are today.
The Taylors spent their first few years of marital bliss traveling throughout the western United States with the Air Force, starting a family, and establishing early households in military-supplied ‘homes’ which included a converted chicken coop and converted WWII barracks. 3 ½ years later, with two children in tow, it was time for Keith to fulfill the promise he made to Carmen when they married: to provide opportunities for her to complete her own college education.
Education runs deep: When Keith left the Air Force at the end of his 4 year commitment, he worked as a sales engineer, traveling three weeks each month while Carmen raised their three children (a fact he’s quick to acknowledge and praise her for). As a result of subsequent job changes, Carmen attended a total of 10 different schools before completing her undergraduate, master’s and post-graduate education over the next 20 years. She majored in education with an emphasis on reading, motivated in part by their daughter’s learning disability.
Keith’s own quest for knowledge led the family to sell their home, pack up the kids, and move to Glendale, AZ for nine months so he could complete a Masters Degree in International Business at Thunderbird School of International Management to prepare for a career abroad. Founded in 1946, Thunderbird is now widely recognized as the world’s No. 1-ranked school of international business.
After completing his advanced coursework, Keith landed a position in his home state of Indiana, which provided a springboard for management opportunities in Brazil, Venezuela, and England before returning to the United States in 1972. Moving every few years can be quite a challenge for any family. When asked how the moves affected her, Carmen simply replied, “Since my family had lost everything during the War (WWII), starting over was just part of life.” Keith had also moved with his family several times during the war due to his father’s work, so it was no surprise that “we never bothered to put down an anchor” (until they discovered California, that is.) Years later, their children acknowledged they were less than enthusiastic about the moves, but didn’t complain either.
Despite wonderful international experiences, Carmen felt a bit “cheated” because they were unsuccessful in establishing close friendships with native residents in South America. Instead, American and British ex-patriots formed their own social network. Carmen and Keith’s fondest international memories were of the time they lived in the village of Ryhall, England, where they were almost immediately embraced by several “curious” villagers whose friendships have continued to this day. Carmen and Keith quickly adapted to life in the village, and found it easy to become involved in community affairs.
When Keith worked himself out of his job in England, the family returned to Arizona where Carmen continued her education and worked as a bilingual interpreter. Keith was 45 and still didn’t know what he wanted to do when he “grew up,” so he contacted a management search firm. After much thought, one of the consultants proposed that he consider becoming a college professor. So casually dropped by Arizona State University the next business day (Monday), and began his Doctoral program that week!
After graduation, Keith landed a job as Assistant Professor at Utah State, and Carmen worked as VP, Student Services and in the reading lab. Six years later, in 1985, a professorship opened up at Sonoma State University for Keith, and Carmen joined him a year later when her contract expired.
Now retired, Keith and Carmen still keep full schedules. Keith has served on the board of Becoming Independent and Santa Rosa Sunrise Rotary, Carmen volunteers regularly at Becoming Independent and the Council on Aging, and they both volunteer for various projects including SRJC-sponsored dental clinics at local elementary schools. Their interest in sharing knowledge and serving others spans the generations!
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