Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 27, 1995 TAG: 9505300065
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Sunday about 5:30 p.m. California time, a relative found him dead of a heart attack in his Inglewood home.
But, relatives say, not even death could keep Rudy and Dorothy apart.
About eight hours after Rudy is believed to have died, so did Dorothy. They say her heart just gave out.
Friday evening, the last of 18 brothers and sisters lay just a few feet apart in the chapel at Hamlar-Curtis Funeral Home. Reunited after more than 40 years of being almost 3,000 miles apart.
Tony Taylor, the seventh child of Dorothy Taylor, said his mother and his Uncle Rudy saw each other rarely, but lived - and died - in total devotion to one another.
"They had a bond like you've never seen," he said. "It was almost like they were one in heart."
Their dying on the same day makes perfect sense to Tony.
"It just shows their love for one another that they would want to go together."
Rudy and Dorothy really hadn't been together, except for visits and countless phone calls, since Rudy, 62, left Roanoke for California just after high school.
Dorothy, 69, stayed in Roanoke to raise her family. It was her life's work. She bore three boys and eight girls.
At one time, eight of her children were in school at the same time. Dorothy climbed from bed ahead of them each morning to get them on their way. Her husband died 24 years ago, leaving her to raise the youngest of the children on her own.
"She taught us to love, and give, and never to hate," Tony said. "She was a princess."
Meanwhile, Rufus Ervin "Rudy" Holly, the baby of the family, was working for the Inglewood, Calif., water company.
He did come to visit from time to time. Tony said you always knew when Uncle Rudy was coming.
"She always dressed up and looked her best," he said, "and had us all cleaning the house."
For the last six months, Dorothy's body - the body that carried 11 children, and bathed, fed and clothed them - was finally giving up. Her kidneys were almost gone, Tony said, and her heart was enlarged.
Sunday morning, though, she woke up smiling in her bed at Community Hospital and smiled all day, but stayed unusually quiet. By then, Rudy had already bought his plane ticket to come see her, but she didn't know that.
At 3 p.m., Tony said, his mother was just fine, and still smiling. By then, Rudy's body had been found, but Dorothy didn't know that either. She died at 6 p.m.
Tony can't help but think Dorothy knew she was going to see Rudy, one way or another.
"Maybe that's why she was smiling."
Keywords:
FATALITY
Memo: ***CORRECTION***