Memorable Moments in Dr. Taylor's Life

The Drag Queens come to visit UCSB, and Dr. Taylor and Dr. Rupp get to grace the stage alongside them!
Dr. Taylor also informed me that the Drag Queens would be returning on April 30th for Pride Week! She's excited to see them again.

For Dr. Taylor, there seems to be many different memorable moments in her life. Here are some of the more prominent ones:

• The McCarthy Award event at Notre Dame was particularly memorable for her. Her mother had just died a few months before, and at the Notre Dame event, the presenters of the award had brought back many of her old colleagues, graduate students, friends and family to see her receive the award. One of the most memorable moments of the event is when one of her colleagues was speaking about all her accomplishments, and she said something along the lines of "There is not a person in this room who hasn't be helped by Verta Taylor and her work." That was such a memorable moment, Dr. Taylor said, because she feels that if she has been able to help others with her work, then she is doing something right.
  
• The Sociologists for Women in Society Mentoring Award.
• Many of the teaching awards she received at Ohio State were very memorable. She hasn't received as many at UCSB because, as the chair of the Sociology department, she doesn't have a full load to teach and cannot be nominated.
• When she began to talk about her lifetime partner, Leila Rupp, she sounded the happiest. She first met Leila at Ohio State when she was going through the rough time with her adviser. Leila really helped focus her research and helped her get into studies of sexuality. Together, they have published many amazing publications from books to journal articles. They have been together for over 30 years; last year on their 30th anniversary they got married in California in the summer.
• One other important memory for Dr. Taylor is when Leila's father gave Verta and Leila the money to buy the house they own in Key West. This is very important because not only did it become a center for research for them (Drag Queens at the 801 Cabaret) but it also has a very good gay and lesbian community that they have not been able to find anywhere else. They also spend time vacationing there when they have time away from their very busy schedules. There is a possibility that once the time is right, both Verta and Leila will have to choose whether they would like to retire in either Santa Barbara or Key West; either way they will still be beach front!

Resources provided from a phone interview between Dr. Verta Taylor and myself.