William O. “Bill” Taft, Jr., passed away at his home in Wallingford, Pa., Thursday, March 6, 2025, after a long and hard-fought illness. He was born June 21, 1946, in Morgantown, to William O. Taft, Sr. and Helen Crosby Taft.
He is survived by his wife, Linda Wolford Taft; his daughter, Vickie Taft Fedele and son-in-law Gerrit Fedele; his grandchildren, Ava Fedele and Maya Fedele; and his brother, Robert L. Taft and sister-in-law Rebecca Taft, and their children and grandchildren. He is also survived by many well-loved cousins, including Tafts, Crosbies, Runners, and Klingensmiths alike.
Bill’s accomplishments were many and varied. There is strong evidence to suggest that he was the first person to wear Birkenstocks with socks, thereby starting a worldwide fashion trend. His wearing of V-neck sweaters, backwards, didn’t quite achieve the same level of popularity in the fashion world, though it did provide much entertainment for his friends and family. He was also an early and ardent practitioner of organic gardening–he had a compost pile in his yard in West Virginia that rivaled Kilimanjaro, and he was proud of the smell of fish emulsion fertilizer and manure that lingered over his garden throughout the summer, mixing with the sweet smells of honeysuckle and peonies. A great lover of trees, he got lost while admiring the trees in the parking lot of Longwood Gardens before he even made it inside the gates.
Rivaling his love of nature was Bill’s love of combat sports, including karate, fencing, and boxing. Boxing was the sport that he practiced the longest, participating in West Virginia’s oldest masters amateur boxing match at the age of 63. He also remained an avid runner into his early 70s, driven to do so by his mantra that “the heart is the most important muscle.”
Bill was lucky to have a “day job” that he loved as much as his hobbies: teaching. From 1977- 1980, he prepared students to take the GED at Morgantown’s Alternative Learning Center. From 1980-1992, he coordinated the gifted program and taught AP Art History at Morgantown High School. From 1992-2008, he was a lecturer in humanities at West Virginia University, where he received a number of teaching awards, including the Eberly College Outstanding Teaching Award in 2004. These awards gave him less satisfaction, however, than the accomplishments of his students, many of whom have gone on to pursue teaching careers of their own.
Never one to cease intellectual pursuits, Bill received his doctorate in Educational Philosophy at Goldsmiths College of the University of London in 2002.
After his retirement in 2008, he continued to read and study history, philosophy, and art. He also continued to write poetry, a long-time interest of his. He liked to write haiku in particular, so it seems fitting to include one of his here: Cattails wave / in the autumn wind / Blackbirds gone away.
There will be no services for Bill upon his request; however, think of him when you see cattails and blackbirds. He would like that. Or, you could make a donation, in his name, to the American Farmland Trust or the Natural Resources Defense Council.
