Burma Calling:
One Woman’ s Journey
— by M. Elena Lopez
It was a time of fear and uncertainty. Peasant rebellions, ethnic violence, strikes, and riots convulsed the British colony of Burma( Myanmar) throughout the 1930s. Amid this unrest, a young Baptist teacher from Mountain View arrived in
“ Her voice was always
soft, gentle and low …”
Rangoon on February 20, 1934. Elizabeth Margery Taylor was born in Puyallup, Washington in 1908. By 1914, her father J. J. Taylor had moved the family to Mountain View, where he worked for the First National Bank. The Taylors were active in the Baptist Church, whose Foreign and Home Missionary Society likely inspired Taylor’ s interest in overseas service. Mountain View residents also learned about Asian religions from a1926 lecture by the Rev. W. Hopkins, who served at the Baptist mission in India.
As a student at Mountain View Union High School, Taylor consistently made it to the honor roll. She belonged to the Girls Glee Club and to the Orchestra, where she played the cello and piano. She accompanied the Glee Club in its presentations, played“ countless piano solos,” and performed one of the leading roles in the Dramatic Club’ s“ Penrod.” The caption next to her 1925 graduating class photo reads,“ Her voice was always soft, gentle and low …”
Taylor pursued higher education with determination. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Redlands and a Bachelor of Arts from San Jose State Teachers College, and also studied at the Baptist Divinity School in Berkeley. In December 1933, she received her formal commission to teach missionary children at the American School in Taunggyi.
Taunggyi, located at an elevation of 4,712 feet, had grown from a small Shan village into a British administrative center. Known as the“ City of Music,” it offered a vibrant cultural scene that suited Taylor’ s musical passions. In a 1936 letter to her Mountain View friends, she described Saturday military band performances, noting drummers“ twirling their sticks and making all sorts of fancy designs in the air.”
Taylor was deeply committed to music education. She asked friends to send prizes for her piano students, preferring books about music and musicians. She also sought ideas for children’ s plays and operettas, expressing a longing to spend hours in a well-stocked music or book store.
In 1937, a lady tourist persuaded Taylor to travel with her to India. Within four days, she had arranged her journey and departed Taunggyi. Her travels took her from the Himalayan north to southern India. From the Hotel Mount Everest in Darjeeling, she wrote,“ The world’ s‘ forehead’ is just being veiled by a cloud curtain! Kangchenjunga, 28,156 ft. high, only appears at dawn and sunset.”
When Taylor’ s initial term in Burma ended in 1939, she returned to the United States. Although she planned to go back, World War II interrupted travel. She resumed teaching in Burma in 1946 but between 1953-1959 was not on active duty. Illness forced her return to the United States in 1964. She later served in the Philippines before retiring in 1973. At the Central Philippine University she organized a Bell Ringers choir that continues to perform today.
Elizabeth Margery Taylor died in Fresno in 1991, leaving behind a life marked by dedication to education, music, and international service.
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