Eleanor M. Taylor, a retired hospital technician and founder of a church soup kitchen, died of lung disease Jan. 22 at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Pikesville resident was 86.
Born Eleanor M. Robinson in Baltimore and raised on McElderry Street, she graduated from Dunbar High School and, in 1953, went to work at Johns Hopkins Hospital as a nurse's aide. She retired in 1980 as a psychological testing technician at the hospital.
Mrs. Taylor was a longtime communicant of St. Cecilia Roman Catholic Church, where she was a founder in 1989 of the parish soup kitchen.
"The soup kitchen was her hobby, and she'd be there from 7 a.m. until late in the day," said a daughter, Barbara J. Vincent of Pikesville. "She believed that folks deserved something more than a one-pot dinner. She thought they ought to have a complete meal like you would at home.
"She never knew how to say `no.' When it came to her church members and priests of her parish, she took them all to her heart as if they were her children," the daughter said.
She was a collector of salt and pepper shakers.
Mrs. Taylor was married for 30 years to Howard Taylor, a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad warehouseman, who died in 1997. An earlier marriage to Melvin Vincent ended in divorce.
A Mass of Christian burial was offered yesterday at St. Cecilia's.
Mrs. Taylor is survived by a son, Melvin I. Vincent of Baltimore; three other daughters, Elaine Witcher of Locust Grove, Va., and Theresa M. Vincent and Mildred M. Yarborough, both of Pikesville; 10 grandchildren; and 19 great-grandchildren.
