September 6, 1933 - May 16, 2022
Barbara Taylor, a resident of Lodi for nearly two decades, an active Lodi Police Partner for 17 years and a volunteer Chaplain with the Lodi Police for 11 years, passed away quietly May 16 in hospice care in Union City, CA.
Born to James Harris and Gertrude Moore Harris in Olathe, Colorado, she grew up in Colorado, Washington, Arizona, and the San Francisco Bay Area, graduating from San Leandro High School. She married for the first time at age 17 and, with Pete Shofner, had 3 children. They resided in San Leandro and Livermore for a number of years. In addition to owning and operating a bar for awhile, she held a variety of jobs in the Bay Area.
She later married Al Little, moving to Southern California where she continued to work a variety of primarily clerical and accounting jobs, leading to a longtime position in Accounts Payable for Kaiser Permanente. While living in Southern California she joined Alcoholics Anonymous to overcome her addiction problems, and would have been celebrating 50 years of sobriety this coming February. She and her third husband, Gene Taylor, were very active in Southern California AA events while still living there. Both also became active in the Agape International Spiritual Ministry, and she became a Licensed Spiritual Practitioner.
Upon retiring from Kaiser Permanente, and following the Northridge Earthquake, she and Gene moved to Lodi to be closer to her daughter, youngest son, and grandchildren. Both she and Gene became volunteers in the Lodi Police Partners. Gene subsequently died of a heart attack while directing traffic on the Fourth of July in 1999. Barbara took on additional responsibilities as a volunteer Chaplain with the police department, and also wrote a weekly column for the Lodi Sentinel profiling city workers.
Following the death of her daughter, she met and chatted online with Robert Hughes of Fremont, CA. Discovering they had several things in common -- both being Kaiser Permanente retirees, passionate baseball fans, and devotees of classic country/western music -- they dated for awhile. She subsequently moved in with him in Fremont for the last decade of her life, until requiring Assisted Living and then hospice care for her chronic health issues.
She is preceded in death by her parents, James and Gertrude Harris; her brother Jim Harris; all three husbands, Pete Shofner, Al Little, and Gene Taylor; and her daughter Linda Shofner Alvarado. She is survived by her sons and their wives Jesse (Jennifer) Shofner of Tennessee, James (Darlene) Shofner of Manteca; her granddaughter and husband Natalie (Kyle) Petersen of Central Point, OR, and three great grandchildren Matthew, Brayden, and Ayla Petersen; grandson Zachary Alvarado, of Sacramento; grandson and wife Joseph (Kim) Shofner of Wanguri, Australia, and three great grandsons, Felomeno, Joaquim, and Khailan; grandson and wife Kevin (Jessica) Shofner of Manteca and three great grandchildren, Mia, Selena, and Jayden; and domestic partner Robert Hughes of Fremont.
SERVICES:
Graveside services are scheduled for 10:45 a.m. on Friday, June 24th, 2022 at Cherokee Park Memorial Park (14165 N. Beckman Road, Lodi, off of Harney Lane at Highway 99).