Mickey Taylor ’60 won’t forget the way she felt when stepped on Winthrop’s campus as a freshman in 1956.

“When I walked in to Winthrop, I knew I was home,” said Taylor, who grew up in Greenville, S.C. “I was comfortable and confident and at home.”

That sense of acceptance stuck with Taylor, who had visited Winthrop’s campus many times before for library conferences. The physical education major became active on campus, serving as president of the Winthrop Recreation Association.

The sense of “total belonging and camaraderie” also brought her back to Winthrop to teach after she earned her master’s degree in Tennessee and Ph.D. in North Carolina. Taylor taught in the Department of Physical Education, Sport, and Human Performance (then the physical education department) for 25 years and served as department chair.

“You could say that I came in and never had any intentions or urges to leave,” she joked.

True to her word, Taylor, now retired, still maintains close ties with the Winthrop community. She participates in the university’s monthly book club; she’s a member of the Winthrop University Geocaching Organization; and she teaches a spring course on geocaching – one of her favorite pastimes. Taylor also is a member of the D.B. Johnson Society, a group for donors who have made planned gifts to Winthrop.

Taylor said that she supports Winthrop because she wants to do whatever she can do to help students finish their educations.

“I want everybody to be able to have the education that I was lucky enough to have without realizing it,” she explained.  

Last updated: 5/29/2013