1997 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother – Alice Taylor

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1997 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother – Alice Taylor
(Photo: David Archer)

(Photo: David Archer)

In 1997, at age 100, Mrs. Alice Taylor of Ottawa, Ontario, was the National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. She was also the National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother in 1991. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 1997, she laid a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada.

On August 17, 1944, her only son, Trooper Richard Taylor, was killed while serving with Fort Garry Horse on a march from Normandy to Falaise.

Mrs. Taylor, née Grimes, worked in the War Records Office during the Second World War and was a dedicated community volunteer. She took up bowling when she was 86 years and was said to never have missed the merry-go-round at the Ottawa Exhibition. She died on Oct 12, 1999, just two weeks before her 102^nd birthday. She had endured the loss of her son for 55 years and the death of her husband, a First World War Veteran, for 22 years.

“What truly illustrates, not only the importance of the Cross to Mrs. Taylor, but her courage and indomitable spirit, was her reaction three years ago to the attempted robbery of her purse in the courtyard outside her home. When some thugs grabbed her purse and ran off, she gave chase and got her purse back. When the police reprimanded her for her “dangerous” actions, she firmly told them that it contained the Silver Cross given to her in memory of her son, and she was not going to let it go.”

(Wendy Byrne of Ottawa Regional Council, 1999)

List of National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mothers

(Information courtesy of the Royal Canadian Legion, Canadian War Museum and families of the National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mothers)