Celebration of the Life of Anne E. Sikora Taylor

October 10, 1950 – June 2, 2025

Anne Taylor didn't just live life—she embraced it with both hands and a generous heart that seemed to expand with every person she met.

Born in White Plains, New York, Anne was rooted in a family legacy that stretched back to the 1860s, when her great-grandparents first made their way to the White Plains area. But while her roots run deep, her spirit soared wide. From the tree-lined streets of White Plains to the open roads of the East Coast, and eventually, to the warm embrace of Texas, Anne carried with her an infectious zest for life that left everyone around her a little brighter.

A Pioneer in Work Boots

In the late 1970s, when most women were fighting for seats in boardrooms, Anne laced up her work boots and climbed telephone poles. As one of AT&T's first female linemen, she traveled the Eastern seaboard with a crew of equally pioneering women, scaling heights and repairing connections—quite literally keeping America talking. Those who worked alongside her remember a woman who could splice a cable with precision and share a laugh that echoed across construction sites. After three decades with the company, she had witnessed the transformation from rotary phones to the digital age, adapting with the curiosity and grace that defined her approach to everything.

Love, Adventure, and Tennis Whites

When Anne married Alan Taylor in June 1989, she didn't just gain a husband—she found her adventure partner. They married in St. John's Church in White Plains and proceeded to explore the world with the enthusiasm of newlyweds, whether they were perfecting their tennis serves, carving down ski slopes, or discovering hidden corners of distant countries. They were the couple friends envied—not for their destinations, but for the joy they found in sharing every experience.

Strength in Struggle

Life tested Anne's resilience when muscular dystrophy began to limit the body that had once scaled telephone poles and conquered mountain trails. Yet even as her physical strength waned, her spirit remained undiminished. The loss of her beloved Alan in a bicycle accident ten years ago might have broken a lesser soul, but Anne continued to give of herself, her charity flowing as naturally as breathing.

Those closest to her struggled to find just five words to capture her essence, but one kept rising to the surface: charitable. Not the kind of charity that seeks recognition, but the quiet generosity that sees a need and fills it, that offers comfort without being asked, that gives simply because giving was as natural to Anne as sunrise.

A Legacy of Connection

Anne leaves behind more than memories—she leaves a network of love that spans from her brother, John, and sister-in-law, Antoinette, in Kingwood, Texas, to her sister, Ellen Sikora, in Sacramento, California, and nine nieces and nephews who carry pieces of her generous heart. She joins her parents, Ted and Margaret Sikora, and her brother Teddy in eternal rest, but her impact on this world continues in every person she touched, every connection she helped repair, every moment of joy she shared.

Anne Taylor lived 74 years, but she packed into those years the adventure of several lifetimes. She was the kind of woman who made the ordinary extraordinary and the difficult bearable. She was, quite simply, the kind of person you wish you had known better—and if you were lucky enough to know her at all, you were changed for the better.

A celebration of Anne's life will be held later this year, where stories will be shared, laughter will echo, and her generous spirit will fill the room one more time.