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David S. Taylor

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Inducted

Degrees


Dave Taylor was born on May 17, 1929, in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, Charles Taylor, was a civil engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The family relocated to Huntington in 1938 following the great Huntington flood of 1937. Charles was part of the effort to build a new flood wall in Huntington.

Taylor attended schools in Huntington and graduated from Huntington High School in 1947.

He rose to the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America. He attended Cornell University and graduated in 1952 with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering.

He spent four year in the Air Force flying F-86 Saber Jets in Europe and Africa.

Taylor moved back to West Virginia in 1958 and began his engineering career with Union Carbide Corporation in Charleston as a design engineer.

He was more interested in construction engineering so in 1966 he switched employment to Settle Engineers as a field engineer. The company president retired in 1966, forcing the company to shut down. Taylor went to work with the West Virginia Water Company.

In 1968 he had the opportunity to get back into construction engineering and accepted a job with Kenneth M. Dunn, Inc. He became vice president in charge of engineering.

Taylor was also involved with Dunn & Day, Pinewood Construction Company and other related companies.

He was instrumental in forming the West Virginia Utility Contractors Association, the state branch of the National Utility Contractors Association.

Taylor and three other key employees from Ken Dunn Construction Company formed Taylor and Striegel, Inc., which stayed in business until 2002 when Taylor retired.

He continued flying part time with the West Virginia Air National Guard. He flew the SA-16, the C-47, the C-119 and  the C-130 Hercules.He logged more than 5,000 hours of military flight time. He received the Air Force Legion of Merit, Air Force and West Virginia Meritorious Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal and the Air Force Commendation Medal.

Taylor retired in 1986 as a brigadier general in charge of the West Virginia Air National Guard. He also logged more than 3,000 hours of civilian flight time in the Cessna Skymaster 337, the Beachcraft Baron BE-58, the Cessna C-172, the Cessna C-182 and a Bellanca 8GCBC Scout.

He has three sons and seven grandchildren.