James Cameron Taylor, organ builder in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, died June 29. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, May 25, 1948, his early motorcycle travels in the 1970s led him to apply for work at Andover Organ Company where he worked closely with Walter Hawkes and Robert Newton. After his time in Massachusetts he returned to Wisconsin, working for organ builder Ronald Wahl in Appleton before setting up his own shop in the Fox River Valley of northeast Wisconsin.
J. C. Taylor & Co. was in operation for decades, producing seven new mechanical-action organs, one electric-action organ, and numerous restorations and rebuilds of nineteenth- and twentieth-century organs in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Minnesota, as well as providing service to organs throughout the Wisconsin area. Notable work included the rebuild of a three-manual Wadsworth organ for St. James Church, Madison, Wisconsin, and the conservation of the Hutchings organ at the James J. Hill House in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the Steere & Sons organ at Luther Memorial Church, Madison, Wisconsin. Taylor accomplished his work with the assistance of many career-long employees and partners including Michael Meyer, Bruce Petros, Tom Salzman, and Robert Voecks.
James Cameron Taylor is survived by his sister Vicki (Leo), brother Tom (Penny), nieces, a nephew, and a stepson, Rev. Jonathan Wallis. A funeral Mass was held July 7 at Holy Cross Catholic Church, Kaukauna, and he was buried next to his wife, Nancy.
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