Ralph Douglas Taylor, Jr

Ralph Douglas Taylor, Jr (Sonny) died peacefully at home as was his wish on June 28^th, 2022.  He was comfortable and was happy that he had seen his children before he died.

Ralph was born in Niagara Falls, NY on Feb 14^th, 1945.  His parents were Ralph Douglas Taylor, and Ruth Cheever Taylor.  He was raised in northwestern Indiana and southwestern Michigan and began working before the age of 12 delivering newspapers, working on local farms and at a hardware store.

He was the oldest of 7 children born to Ruth.  His siblings are Richard,  Rita and Robert Taylor, Randy, Russell, and Rhonda Hulett.

Ralph joined the Army at 17. He was stationed in Alaska, New Jersey, and at the top of a cold mountain in South Korea.  He was transferred to Ft Huachuca in 1965.  He was honorably discharged in 1967.  He was playing soccer at Ft. Huachuca in January dressed in a T-shirt and shorts and decided this was where he wanted to spend the rest of his life.  He was finally warm and dry, and not shoveling snow.

Ralph spent his professional life in law enforcement.  He was with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department from 1969 to 1978. He joined South Tucson Police Department for one year and then was hired by the Tucson Police Department in 1980.  He spent the next 27 years working for TPD. He retired as a Homicide Detective.

He was the loving father of Michael, Heather (Hofschulte), Jacob, Steven, David, and Douglas.  He was grandfather to Steven’s children, Brittany, and Lucas.

He was a faithful member of St. Philips in the Hills Episcopal Church.  It was there that he met Sally Stevens and they married in 2005.  He became Stepdad to Will (Liz Meredith), Ellen (Zuki Ndulo) and David (Erin Virostek), and Granddad to Jack Ndulo.

Ralph was ordained a Deacon in 2008 and served the church and the community through Pima County’s Victim Witness Program and TIHAN until he retired from being an active Deacon in 2017.

Ralph realized how blessed by God he was every day and hopes that all who knew him share that realization.

A memorial service will take place at St. Philips (NE corner of River and Campbell) on October 15^th, 2022, at 1pm.  Ralph requested no flowers please. Donations in his memory can be made to TIHAN (2660 N 1st Ave, Tucson, AZ 85719), or Southern Arizona Law Enforcement Foundation (7660 E Broadway, Ste 205, Tucson, AZ 85710.)