Radio host known for her wit and candor
Virginia Taylor, a radio personality and the wife of longtime news anchor Jack Taylor, has passed away.
Six years ago, Virginia Taylor joined her husband to host a noon Saturday talk show on WKRS in Waukegan.
Their most recent show aired on Saturday. Mrs. Taylor died Tuesday as the result of a heart attack. The longtime resident of Kildeer was 78.
As the former lead anchor on WGN for many years, and later WBBM-TV, Jack Taylor likes to tell the story of when he and his wife were invited by President Richard Nixon to visit the White House.
"We were in the East Room visiting with people like Henry Kissinger and members of the Cabinet," Taylor recalls. "And when we started talking to John Ehrlichman, he scoffed at all the uproar over inflation, saying there was no inflation."
Without missing a beat, Virginia Taylor confronted Ehrlichman directly, saying: "Do you ever go the grocery store? If you did, you'd see we have inflation."
Taylor still laughs over his wife's ease at speaking her mind, whether to a famous celebrity or guest on their show.
"One of her marked characteristics was her great candor," Taylor said of his wife of more than 60 years. "She always said what she thought, but she did it with great wit and charm."
The couple met while attending the University of Louisville. They came to Chicago in 1950 and co-hosted a talk show on WGN radio, which consistently ranked first or second in the ratings.
He left the show to anchor WGN's 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts, while Mrs. Taylor concentrated on raising their three children.
When Jack Taylor retired from television news, and served as anchor on the "Stock Market Observer," he and his wife resumed their radio broadcasts in a daily show on WJOY in Crown Point, IN.
Libby Collins, program director for WKRS, was thrilled to draw the couple back to Chicago area radio in 2003. She compared their rapport to George Burns and Gracie Allen, where Jack Taylor played the straight man and Mrs. Taylor came up with some outrageous stories.
"You just waited to see what she was going to say next," Collins says. "The best part of it was, it was all spontaneous."
Besides her husband, Mrs. Taylor is survived by her three children: Sherry (Andrew) Aleksich; Jack (Kristalina) Taylor Jr.; and Amy (Jason) Taylor Diamond; as well as eight grandchildren.
Visitation will take place from 4-8 p.m. Saturday at Kristin Funeral Home, 219 W. Maple Ave., Mundelein before a 2 p.m. Sunday funeral service at Ivanhoe Congregational Church, 21078 W. Route 176, Mundelein.