William Alfred "Al" Taylor (November 2, 1928 – June 18, 2010) was an American jurist who served as a justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court from January 22, 1993, until his retirement in 1998.
On November 2, 1928, Taylor was born in Lusk, Wyoming to Don and Ethel Taylor.[1][2][3] He graduated from Lusk High School in 1946.[1] After receiving his teaching degree from the University of Wyoming in 1951, he taught geography, social studies, and arithmetic in Lusk, Wyoming.[1][2] He joined the United States Army during the Korean War.[1][2] After his military service and teaching two more years in Lusk, he attended law school at the University of Wyoming, obtaining his law degree in 1959.[1][2] During law school, he married Jane Y. Lyons.[1] After law school, he practiced law in Lusk, where he also served as city attorney and county attorney for Niobrara County.[1][3][2] In 1976, he became the first Director of the Wyoming State Bar.[1] He served as Director until 1980, when he was appointed by Governor Edgar J. Herschler to a new Wyoming state district court judgeship in the Eighth Judicial District, serving Converse, Platte, Goshen, and Niobrara Counties.[1][3] He served as a state district judge until 1993, when he was appointed to the Wyoming Supreme Court by Governor Mike Sullivan.[1][2] He served as chief justice from 1997 to 1998.[1] He retired from the Wyoming Supreme Court in 1998.[4] Taylor died June 18, 2010, in Green Valley, Arizona, and is buried in Lusk.[1]
Taylor had three daughters.[1][3] His middle daughter, Kari Jo Gray, was appointed to the Wyoming Supreme Court by Governor Matt Mead in September 2018; she was sworn in on October 9, 2018.[5][6] Her robing ceremony took place on November 2, 2018, which would have been her father's 90th birthday.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Niobrara County Library - William Alfred "Al" Taylor". www.niobraracountylibrary.org.
- ^ a b c d e f Former Judge Named UW Law School Distinguished Alumnus, Lusk Herald, 2005.
- ^ a b c d Taylor, O'Brien District Judges, Wyoming State Tribune, Vol. 86, No. 127, June 1980.
- ^ Wyoming Blue Book, Vol. 5, 2008 at 150.
- ^ "Welcome Justice Kari Jo Gray – Wyoming Judicial Branch". www.courts.state.wy.us.
- ^ Desk, News (5 September 2018). "Mead Appoints Kari Jo Gray to Wyoming Supreme Court".
{{cite web}}:|first=has generic name (help)