Councilmember Eric Gioia honored Burchard Taylor for his 100th birthday at the Woodside Senior Center with a proclamation from the City Council.
“We owe everything to citizens like Burchard Taylor,” said Gioia. “It is truly an honor to be here with friends and family to celebrate his birthday. From serving in the military to playing in Ella Fitzgerald’s band, Burchard has been an inspiration for all of us.”
Taylor served in the Army during World War II, and he played in the Army band. After the war, he returned to America and played the trombone in Ella Fitzgerald’s band. Taylor is an active member of the Woodside Senior Center.
“He’s doing well, and he’s in good spirits,” said Holly Horne, a staff member at the center. “His niece brings him into the center to get him out of the house. He gets along well with everybody.”
Taylor was born in 1909 on the Eastern shores of Maryland. He was raised and went to school in Denton, a small town where he would later meet and marry his wife, Anna.
In 2004, the Woodside Senior Center reopened with arts and crafts, a computer conference room, a dining hall large enough to accommodate 120 people and updated ventilation on lighting systems. Gioia stepped in and secured the funding in the capital budget after a substantial budget gap threatened the completion of the center.
