Betty Taylor (nee King)

Born in Oshawa, Ontario, Betty had a happy childhood and developed and grew in her spiritual life before her teenage years. She began her career by teaching school in rural Ontario, then became a mobile missionary in the remote areas of North Ontario and Manitoba. She spent three years in theological studies at the Anglican Women's Training College and Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto.

She was called to very remote communities in northern Ontario, living in tarpaper houses, chopping her own wood and carrying her own water. It was there that she met her future husband, John Howard Taylor.

She and John lived in the parishes of Toronto, Haliburton, Ontario, Tisdale, Saskatchewan, and Maple Ridge, and had a child in each of the parishes. She volunteered regularly with church programs, visiting hospices, and driving for the Cancer Society. At several times she and John welcomed additional children to live with the family.

Her husband John died in 1985 and her life took a new direction. She began working in Pastoral Care at St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver. She worked in Emergency, Intensive Care and on call for the rest of the hospital. She was able to be present with people who were dying or who had lost loved ones, helping people in the depths of their life experiences.

After leaving St. Paul's she became the coordinator of hospice services and facilitator of grief recovery programs for Maple Ridge, training volunteers to serve with dying patients and their families.

Betty was always strongly independent. She leaves four children: John (Donna), David (Louise), Peter and Anne, nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Special thanks to the wonderful staff and volunteers at Langley Hospice for making her last few weeks so comfortable.

Funeral and celebration of life will be at 1:00 on December 12, 2026, at St. George's Anglican Church in Maple Ridge.