Judy McCormick Taylor '57

9/7/2024

Kate Leach

As one of the first two women—and the first alumna—appointed to Burr and Burton’s Board of Trustees in 1975, Judy McCormick Taylor was a trailblazer known for her tireless volunteerism and her love of her high school.

As a student, Judy sang in the Glee Club, helped produce the Burtonian (yearbook), and served as both a cheerleader and a member of the BBS ski team. Her school spirit, empathy, and can-do attitude were the stuff of legend, and after getting her degree at Colby-Sawyer and studying and working in New York City, she returned to Manchester, where she and her husband Derry Taylor bought the Johnny Appleseed Bookstore and raised their two children. Over the decades, she and Derry became self-proclaimed “superfans” of Green and Gold sports teams, cheering on hundreds of Bulldogs and Middlebury Panthers.

During Judy’s tenure as a trustee, the Burr and Burton campus saw its largest transformation since the construction of Alumni Hall (now the Riley Center) in 1913: the building and dedication of the E.H. Henry Gymnasium, opened in 1976. After she stepped down from the Board in 1982, Judy continued to serve Burr and Burton on the Advisory Council and the school’s 175th Anniversary Committee.

Beyond Burr and Burton, Judy’s incredible generosity of spirit led her to active roles on the Dorset School Board, the Scottish Ball Committee for the Southern Vermont Arts Center, and the board of Hildene, of which she was a founding member. In addition, she was a 4-H Club leader, a literacy volunteer, and a parent volunteer in the Dorset School. When she passed away in 2021, her dear friend Mike Powers ‘60, appropriately said, “Generous and giving, she could not do enough for others… Her generosity of spirit knew no bounds.”

When Burr and Burton made its next significant investment in athletics by installing a turf field on the south side of Seminary Avenue, it was more than appropriately dedicated as Judy McCormick Taylor Turf Field.

For more on the turf field dedication, read the Manchester Journal article.

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