Gladys Elmina Taylor Barry
East Stroudsburg, Pa.
Jan. 1922 – Jan. 2017
Gladys Elmina Taylor Barry (Mina Taylor) of Discovery Bay, Wash. died just shy of her 95th birthday. She had been residing with her daughter Bobbie in East Stroudsburg, Pa. the past six years.
Mina was the great-granddaughter and granddaughter of two pioneer Jefferson County families. Her paternal great-grandparents, Daniel and Ella Stuttler moved from Berlin County, Ohio with their daughter Flora Bell and son-in-law Austin Taylor. They purchased land and settled at Lake Leland in 1894. Her maternal grandfather Willard Freeman Lumsden and his brother sailed from Prince Edward Island, Canada to Discovery Bay in 1889. He purchased his farm at Discovery Bay in 1896. In 1894 he married Elmina Davis in Port Hadlock, Wash. Mina's mother Nellie Ethelyn Taylor was born at Discovery Bay in 1899. She married Aubrey Daniel Taylor, the son of Flora Bell Stuttler and Austin Taylor of Lake Leland.
Mina was born in 1922. She was delivered at home at Discovery Bay by Dr. Delaney. She was named after her mom's best friend Gladys Butler of Port Townsend. She had one brother Aubrey Freeman (Bud) Taylor of Discovery Bay.
Mina was an avid learner. She graduated from the Quilcene High School class of 1939 as co-valedictorian with Ida Bunnell Bailey. Hector Munn was the principal. He graduated Quilcene High School with her father in a class of three students. Her father drove a two-wheeled cart to high school his freshman year.
Mina continued her studies at the University of Washington from the fall of 1939 through the summer of 1942. She took the ferry from Edmonds to Port Ludlow to visit her family on school breaks. She graduated with a Math major. The department head was her father's math teacher when he was studying Civil Engineering at the university. She received her M.S. in Psychology in the spring of 1943 and received an assistantship to Yale that fall. She completed her M.A. in 1944, and received her PhD in 1947 with a Psychology major and concentration in Experimental Psychology-Learning Theory.
She met her future husband Michael Barry at college while he was studying nearby at the School of Medicine. They were married at the Yale Chapel in June 1945.
She remained on the East Coast where Mike worked as a Pharmaceutical Research Physician. She loved babies. Together they raised 13 children. Holidays were memorable and made special with her festive meals and infamous cakes and cookies. After the children were older Mina worked for the State of New Jersey in employment securities for 20 years.
She returned to Port Townsend in retirement in 1995. She was an active member of St. Mary's Catholic Church and a member of the Legion of Mary with her good friend Annie Bryant.
She was preceded in death by her husband Michael, her son Douglas of Quilcene, her son Donald of New York City and Martin of Kinnelon, N.J. She was also predeceased by her grandson Scott Csanadi and her brother Bud Taylor of Discovery Bay.
Mina is survived by three generations in Jefferson County, her daughter Lyn in Port Townsend, granddaughter Tara of Quilcene and great-granddaughter Pearl of Discovery Bay. Survivors include 10 children, 16 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, her nephew Dan Taylor of Discovery Bay and his son Jaysen.
A family service will take place in the springtime with her ashes to be placed at the family plot in Port Townsend.
And now there is an angel with a smile on her face.
