SBU president’s wife dies

Judy Taylor, the wife of Southwest Baptist University President C. Pat Taylor, died March 26. She was 69.

Taylor died in her Bolivar home of a rare degenerative neurological disease from which she was ill for several years, said SBU spokeswoman Charlotte Marsch.

SBU’s first lady since her husband took the job in 1996, Taylor worked as an assistant professor of education 1996-2006 and taught English as a second language in China, Hungary, Brazil, Thailand and Russia. In 2000, she helped organize an English Institute in the Brazilian state of Roraima, according to a news release form the Bolivar university.

“Ever since Judy and Pat stepped on campus in 1996, she has been one of SBU’s greatest supporters,” SBU board Chairman Don Fahrni said in the release. “One of her first  priorities at SBU was to beautify the campus through landscaping, and she personally invested countless hours in those efforts.

“She devoted her life to teaching and serving others, and many SBU students benefited from her mentoring and expertise.”

Taylor’s visitation is scheduled at 4 p.m. tomorrow at SBU’s Sells Administration Building, following by a 2 p.m. funeral service March 30 at the university’s Mabee Chapel, according to her obituary at ButlerFuneralHome.com.

In observance of the funeral, SBU will close at noon Wednesday.