Dr. J.E. Taft

Dr. J.E. Taft, 82, of Mexico, died Monday evening, September 7, 2009 at Boone Hospital and Clinics in Columbia.

Funeral Mass will be held at 9 a.m., Saturday, September 12, at St. Mary Magdalen Church, 1200 N. Clark, in Mexico, with Fr. Young officiating. Visitation will be 6 8 p.m. Friday at Pickering Funeral Home. There will be a Rosary at 8 p.m. Burial will be at 11 a.m., Saturday, at Resurrection Cemetery in Jefferson City.

J.E. Taft was born, July 26, 1927, in Mexico, a son of Raymond E. and Ferrie F. (Danes) Taft. On August 22, 1953 in Folk, Missouri he married Helen Schoenen. Mrs. Taft preceded him in death on March 5, 1993.

Survivors include one son, Dr. James D. Taft, New York, NY; two daughters, Sheila Taft Nixon, Boonville, and Susan Ann Taft, Mexico; three grandchildren, Taylor James Nixon, Zachary Taft, and Nicholas Sherman; and one brother, William Howard Taft and wife Myrtle, Columbia.

Dr. Taft was a Veteran of World War II, serving in the Medical Corps in the US Army from 1945 until 1947. He was a graduate of Westminster College in 1952 and UM Health Science in Kansas City in 1957. He had a medical practice in Mexico from 1962 until his retirement in 1992, he specialized in general surgery and proctology. He was a member of the American Osteopathic College of Surgeons, American Osteopathic College of Proctology, past member of the American Osteopathic Association and the Missouri Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons.

He was a member of St. Mary Magdalen Church and was instrumental in the formation of the church in Mexico. He held the organizational meeting in December of 1978 in his office. Over the years he obtained many first class relics for the chapel and provided the case to display them in, and he has made many generous contributions to the church, even starting a trust fund in memory of his wife that supports Priests at the St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Winona, Minnesota. On October 24, 1948 he became a member or the 3rd Order of St. Francis at St. Anthony s Church in St. Louis, his given name was Bro. Theodore, S.F. O. and he later helped establish the 3rd Order in the Mexico St. Mary Magdalen Church. His daughter Susan followed him in the tradition of the order and her given name is Sr. Helen, S.F.O.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to St. Mary Magdalen Church. They may be sent in care of Pickering Funeral Home, 403 N. Western, Mexico, MO 65265.