09/20/2026
Celebration of Life for Bob Taylor
Saturday, October 3, 2026
3-6 pm
Wood Ridge Farm Brewery
165 Old Ridge Road, Lovingston, VA
Refreshments will be provided.
Please RSVP so we can be prepared to welcome you!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScaphqXzpHU1HbGbf3CzisxbNWMvXILI7nv62NRu908zzgelw/viewform
Music was at the heart of Bob and Carolyn’s life. If you feel inspired, please feel free to bring your instrument. A jam might break out!
Robert Dale (Bob) Taylor
July 6, 1947—September 12, 2026
Bob Taylor passed away peacefully on Saturday September 12, after a long battle with ALS. He played on to his next gig in the company of his closest family and loved ones. He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law Gabriel Robert John Taylor and Kiley Griffin Taylor, his grandchildren Sara Maline (Lina) Taylor and Robert Jones Taylor, his daughter Sara Maline Taylor, his sweetheart Carolyn Stone, her daughter Marie Hawthorne, and a host of countless close friends in the music community.
Bob led an extraordinary life. He matriculated at Long Beach State University and roomed with Steven Spielberg. He courted his first wife Sally and won her hand with a palomino mare and some “really great weed.” They moved to Massies Mill in 1978 and founded Mountain Hollow Farm, which grew to be the training ground for countless young riders and horses. He and Sally threw epic parties, all revolving around the gravitational force of live music. He became a master woodworker, founded Village Woodworkers in the Packing Shed in Lovingston along with his business partner Dave Taylor, and later bought the building. The Packing Shed housed every Taylor family venture for forty years: Village Woodworkers, Lovingston Antiques, Packing Shed Records, and Rapunzel’s Coffee & Books.
Throughout those early years, Bob devoted himself wholeheartedly to his family’s equestrian adventures. He spent all his free time taking care of the farm, hauling students and horses all over the state and beyond, and cheering us on at every competition. He became a founding member of the Oak Ridge Fox Hunt Club and led the second flight.
After many years of dedicating himself to his family, Bob finally got to pursue his own passion for music when he co-founded Rapunzel’s Coffee & Books with his daughter Sara. He developed the music performances there, started a weekly Open Jam, launched a monthly Jazz Night, and honed his skill as a rhythm guitarist. When he met Carolyn and her upright bass in 2007, the two became inseparable not only in love, but also as the musical backbone of The Free Radicals, The Quintessential Quartet, The Blazing Saddle Tramps, and the duo known as Bob & Carolyn.
Neither Bob nor Carolyn ever let his diagnosis slow him down—they continued to lead a rock star lifestyle of band practices, performances, parties, international travel, and an incredibly active social life right up to the end.
