During a 2010 memorial service for Alberta Cody Payne, the widow of Roger K. Payne, son of Byrd Payne I found out several things have been reported as being inaccurate in the following cometary. First Jay and Betsy Rose Taylor were married in South Carolina, not Louisiana and there apparently was no flight in a helicopter to New Orleans. Jay was a Navy helicopter pilot but not stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in the 1950's. Well, I have been reading the "Ultimate Sacrifice" by Lamar Waldron with Thom Hartman that was published in 2006 and would really like to get Jay's opinion on the book. But, since the only time I have had conversations with him have been weddings and funerals it may be some time before I speak to him again. This 1994 article by him in the Sarasota Harold-Tribune, U.S. Playing into Castro's Hands gives us an idea of his opinion of Fidel Castro at that time. Jay began his career in the late 1950's about the same time as my brother with the U.S. Government. The book cronicles in their opinion "John and Robert Kennedy, the Plan for a Coup in Cuba, and the Murder of JFK."


The letter from Larry Ault, (Lawrence) Irene Payne Ault's son was regarding the wedding of Patricia (Patsy) Payne Perkins and Ray Farmer.

During Bertha Payne Campbell's funeral service in 2009 I found that a story told by our dear Uncle Bill Breeding to me regarding Castro releasing turkey's from a neighboring Turkey Farm during Jay and Betsy's daughter Amy's wedding was untrue or so it seems. Jay Taylor was head of the U.S INTERESTS SECTION (USINT) in Havana, Cuba when his daughter Amy was married there in May 1987. Well it made for a great story. I would imagine that several other events taking place during that year were of more interest.. Jay also wrote a couple articles I was able to locate on HighBeam Research

JOHN TAYLOR - 1931 - 2022

John Jackson Taylor "Jay" John Jackson Taylor, "Jay" to all who knew and loved him, died peacefully at home in Decatur, GA on March 3, 2022.

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James Michener's Novel - Amazon.com says "When James Michener visited Havana with his associate John Kings, he was only researching Cuba for a new novel on the Caribbean, but he found much more to excite his interest. Michener's insightful text and Kings's evocative photographs record their impressions of Havana thirty years after the Revolution." 1989
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John Kings, his coordinating editor and associate, first worked with him on Centennial in 1972.
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This is Jay Taylor and Betsy Rose Taylor, daughter of Sally Payne Rose. Sally Payne was the daughter of Byrd Maynard Payne and Sally A.M. Jennings.
Jay was assigned to what the State Department calls it's American Concern in Havana. Many local's from Tazewell and Lone Mountain traveled to Cuba for Jay and Betsy's daughter, Amy Taylor Scully's wedding in 1987.

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Jay Taylor has himself written several book on the Chinese people and it's socio-economic polices. They visit Lone Mountain often. Click here for a recent picture of a 2007 Reunion in Lone Mountain, Tennessee
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A letter among my remembrances of my brother George Eddie Payne was from Larry Ault. If it is Larry then it is Lawrence C. Ault born 1922 son of Lawrence Ault and Irene Payne, daughter of Byrd Payne who were married in 1917. Larry Ault first married Helen Moore but divorced in 1941. He remarried Mary Ruth Riley in December 1953. Since first posting this I have learned that the wedding that was refered to was not the Jay Taylor and Betsy Rose wedding it was the wedding of Patricia (Patsy) Payne Perkins and Ray Farmer. My brother, stationed at Ft. Polk, Louisiana after returning from Germany was contacted by Larry Ault, first cousin of Patsy, saying he was going to travel there from Lawton, Oklahoma to attend. Being the detective I am it took me a while but I think I got it right. Mary Ruth Riley was the daughter of Frank Kincaid Riley and Della Maude Buis.
What I am trying to determine is whether my brother was attending West Point or had already decided not to attend for he did enroll in 1953.
Football, as you can see from the letter, was and is a tremendous inspiration to many of my family and the scandal at West Point no doubt was a deciding factor in my brother not attending. When you read the letter you can gather that U.T. Football was something special to Ault's also.

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