Maurine Taylor b. 1932

My mother was a complex person determined to live life on her own terms. This amazing photo of her (center) was taken when she was 16 years old and dancing with a ballet company in Alabama. After an ankle injury, she gave up her dancing career, got married and had four kids. She later divorced and became a psychologist. Although I think she struggled with the responsibility of having four children, Mom was a role model for me in so many ways. She taught me about civil rights, women’s rights, exercise, cooking, fashion, reading and having the courage to do what is right, even if it isn't easy. She was a lifelong learner, and she inspired me to be a voracious reader. In the last years of her life, she was robbed of her physical grace by Parkinson’s disease. I witnessed this inch-by-inch decline up close and personal. I will remember her beauty inside and out and her extraordinary love of life.