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Taylor G. Bunch

Photo courtesy of Center for Adventist Research.

Bunch, Taylor Grant (1885–1969)

By Milton Hook

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Milton Hook, Ed.D. (Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan, the United States). Hook retired in 1997 as a minister in the Greater Sydney Conference, Australia. An Australian by birth Hook has served the Church as a teacher at the elementary, academy and college levels, a missionary in Papua New Guinea, and as a local church pastor. In retirement he is a conjoint senior lecturer at Avondale College of Higher Education. He has authored Flames Over Battle Creek, Avondale: Experiment on the Dora, Desmond Ford: Reformist Theologian, Gospel Revivalist, the Seventh-day Adventist Heritage Series, and many magazine articles. He is married to Noeleen and has two sons and three grandchildren.

First Published: August 26, 2020

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Taylor Bunch served as a minister and teacher for almost fifty years, including as president of the Southern Oregon, Southern Idaho, and Michigan Conferences. He became a well-known author of religious articles and books.

Early Years

Taylor Bunch was born at Myrtle Point, Oregon, on November 18, 1885,1 to William Hamilton Bunch and his wife, Elizabeth Louisa (Roberts). His father became the public school teacher at nearby Burton Prairee. The family grew to seven children over a period of three decades. They were: Charles (b.1882), Taylor Grant (b.1885), Ines Florence (b.1888), Claude Carleton (b.1892), Walter (b.1899), Irma (b.1903), and Minnie (b.1912).2

As a young man, Taylor graduated from law school3 and married Georgia Vesta Leep. Two children were born into their home: Genevieve (b.1909) and Melvin (b.1911).4

Ministerial Career

Instead of pursuing a career in law, Taylor decided he would prefer to be a preacher and evangelist. The Western Oregon Conference granted him a licence in 1909 to begin nurturing the Marshfield/Coos Bay community, located to the north of where he was raised.5 His efforts were instrumental in a group at Marshfield being organized into a church.6 He and a local carpenter, Arthur Bennett, built their church, and it was dedicated on March 26, 1911.7 Taylor was ordained that same year and moved further south in Oregon to minister to the Coquille8 and, later, the Ashland congregations.9 In 1913 Taylor was elected as the president of the Southern Oregon Conference, a role he fulfilled for two years.10

Taylor transitioned to be president of the Southern Idaho Conference in 1915.11 It was there that tragedy came with the disintegration of his marriage. Georgia abandoned him, taking the two children with her. The 1920 Census lists her as married to Albert Muller, a farmer in Portland, Oregon. Her children and mother were living with her.12 However, the union did not last, and she later married Arthur Bennett,13 the carpenter who had worked with Taylor to build the Marshfield church.

When his marriage collapsed, Taylor did not leave the ministry. However, the following five years, 1917 through 1921, were ones of instability as he moved from one conference to another on an annual basis. He found board with others and accepted a succession of pastoral and evangelistic roles in the North Pacific Union Conference, Louisiana Conference, the Southern Union Conference, and Nebraska Conference.14

While working in Nebraska, Taylor met Linea Hilda Carlson, a nurse, and they married on December 7, 1921, at Litchfield, Minnesota.15 Taylor returned to the Northwest and ministered in the Western Washington Conference, 1922 through 1925,16 followed by three years in the Western Oregon Conference, 1925 through 1928. During their final two years in Oregon, Linea served as the medical missionary secretary of the Western Oregon Conference.17 In these years Taylor first exhibited some academic abilities, writing and publishing his first book, Forty Years in the Wilderness in Type and Anti-type.

Taylor’s written work brought him to the attention of the teaching fraternity, and in 1928 he was appointed to lecture in the School of Religion at the College of Medical Evangelists. He maintained this role until 193418 and then returned to ministerial responsibilities. He served in the Michigan Conference as a member of the pastoral team19 until elected in 1940 as president of the conference. In this capacity he served for seven years, at times carrying the additional portfolios of Religious Liberty, Medical, and Radio.20 The thirteen years in Michigan were productive in terms of literary output, publishing nine titles on biblical themes. He also published articles in the leading denominational periodicals.21

In 1947 Taylor was appointed to the Southern New England Conference, where his talents were utilized in pastoral and teaching roles, the latter as one of three Bible lecturers at Atlantic Union College.22 He transitioned to the Potomac Conference in 1952, once again to take up dual roles as a minister/teacher. He served as the leading pastor for the Sligo Church congregation and at the same time was a guest lecturer at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, Tacoma Park, Washington, D. C.23

Sunset Years

After almost fifty years of active service, Taylor retired to Lodi, California.24 He passed away peacefully on May 25, 1969, at Portland, Oregon, and was brought back to California to be interred in the St. Helena Cemetery.25 The following year Linea married Louis Holm.26 She passed away at Loma Linda on September 22, 1981, and was interred alongside Taylor in St. Helena Cemetery.27

Books by Taylor Bunch

Forty Years in the Wilderness in Type and Anti-type. Self-published, 1927.

The Everlasting Gospel Versus Babylon the Great. Self-published, 1934.

Exodus and Advent Movements in Type and Anti-type. Leaves of Autumn, 1937.

The Beatitudes. Review and Herald, 1938.

The Perfect Prayer. Review and Herald, 1939.

The Shepherd Psalm. Review and Herald, 1942.

The Ten Commandments: The Law of Liberty. Review and Herald, 1944.

The Revelation. Self-published, 1946.

Prevailing Prayer. Review and Herald, 1946.

The Seven Epistles of Christ. Review and Herald, 1947.

The Book of Daniel. Self-published, 1950.

Behold the Man: A Review of the Trials and Crucifixion of Jesus. Review and Herald, 1952.

Love: A Comprehensive Exposition of 1 Corinthians 13. Review and Herald. 1952.

Bible Paradoxes. Pacific Press, 1953.

The Armour of Righteousness. Southern Publishing, 1957.

Secrets of a Happy Marriage. Review and Herald, 1958.

Memorials of Calvary. Review and Herald, 1962.

The Road of Happiness: How to Make the Beatitudes Real in Your Life. Review and Herald. 1998. (Posthumous).

Sources

Bunch, F[rank] S. “Southern Oregon.” North Pacific Union Gleaner, September 27, 1911.

Bunch, F[rank] S. “Western Oregon.” North Pacific Union Gleaner, May 25, 1910.

Bunch, Taylor G. “Prayer and Restitution.” ARH, March 30, 1944.

“Dedication of the Marshfield Church.” North Pacific Union Gleaner, April 12, 1911.

District of Minnesota. Marriage Certificates. Government of the District of Minnesota Department of Health, St. Paul, Minnesota.

District of Oregon. Multnomah County. 1920 United States Census. “Muller, Albert E.” Digital Images. Ancestry.com, September 1, 2021. http://ancestry.com.

“Linea Hilda Carlson.” FamilySearch, Intellectual Reserve, 2021. Accessed August 31, 2021. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/LR8F-P6W.

“Linea Hilda (Carlson) Bunch.” Find A Grave Memorial, 2021. Accessed July 30, 2021. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/48129615/linea-hilda-bunch.

“Taylor G. Bunch.” ARH, August 7, 1969.

“Taylor Grant Bunch.” FamilySearch, Intellectual Reserve, 2021. Accessed July 30, 2021. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/LBT1-1CW.

“Taylor Grant Bunch.” Find A Grave Memorial, 2021. Accessed July 30, 2021. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/47731215/taylor-grant-bunch.

Taylor Grant Bunch. General Conference Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research, Silver Spring, Maryland. Work Service Records. Folder: Taylor Grant Bunch. Document: “Sustentation Fund Application.”

Notes

  1. “Taylor G. Bunch,” ARH, August 7, 1969, 24.↩

  2. “Taylor Grant Bunch,” FamilySearch, Intellectual Reserve, 2021, accessed July 30, 2021, https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/LBT1-1CW.↩

  3. “Taylor G. Bunch,” ARH, August 7, 1969, 24.↩

  4. “Taylor Grant Bunch,” FamilySearch, Intellectual Reserve, 2021, accessed July 30, 2021, https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/LBT1-1CW.↩

  5. “Western Oregon Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1909), 63-64.↩

  6. F[rank] S. Bunch, “Western Oregon,” North Pacific Union Gleaner, May 25, 1910, 6.↩

  7. “Dedication of the Marshfield Church,” North Pacific Union Gleaner, April 12, 1911, 4.↩

  8. F[rank] S. Bunch, “Southern Oregon,” North Pacific Union Gleaner, September 27, 1911, 4-5.↩

  9. “Southern Oregon Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1912), 57-58.↩

  10. E.g., “Southern Oregon Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1914), 59-60.↩

  11. Taylor Grant Bunch. General Conference Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research, Silver Spring, Maryland, Work Service Records. Folder: Taylor Grant Bunch. Document: “Sustentation Fund Application.”↩

  12. 1920 United States census, Multnomah County, Oregon, digital image, “Muller, Albert E.,” Ancestry.com, September 1, 2021, https://ancestry.com.↩

  13. “Taylor Grant Bunch.” FamilySearch, Intellectual Reserve, 2021, accessed July 30, 2021, https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/LBT1-1CW.↩

  14. Taylor Grant Bunch. General Conference Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research, Silver Spring, Maryland. Work Service Records. Folder: Taylor Grant Bunch. Document: “Sustentation Fund Application.”↩

  15. District of Minnesota, Certificate of Marriage no. L612 (1921), District of Minnesota Department of Health, St. Paul, Minnesota.↩

  16. E.g., “Western Washington Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1923), 56-57.↩

  17. E.g., “Western Oregon Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1927), 64-65.↩

  18. E.g., “College of Medical Evangelists,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1929), 270.↩

  19. E.g., “Michigan Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1937), 44-45.↩

  20. E.g., “Michigan Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1943), 39-40.↩

  21. E.g., Taylor G. Bunch, “Prayer and Restitution,” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, March 30, 1944, 9.↩

  22. E.g., “Atlantic Union College,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1951), 236.↩

  23. “Taylor G. Bunch,” ARH, August 7, 1969, 24.↩

  24. Ibid.↩

  25. “Taylor Grant Bunch,” Find A Grave Memorial, 2021, accessed July 30, 2021, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/47731215/taylor-grant-bunch.↩

  26. “Linea Hilda Carlson,” FamilySearch, Intellectual Reserve, 2021, accessed August 31, 2021, https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/LR8F-P6W.↩

  27. “Linea Hilda (Carlson) Bunch,” Find A Grave Memorial, 2021, accessed July 30, 2021, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/48129615/linea-hilda-bunch.↩

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Hook, Milton. "Bunch, Taylor Grant (1885–1969)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. August 26, 2020. Accessed December 05, 2024. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=G91P.

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Hook, Milton. "Bunch, Taylor Grant (1885–1969)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. August 26, 2020. Date of access December 05, 2024, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=G91P.

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Hook, Milton (2020, August 26). Bunch, Taylor Grant (1885–1969). Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved December 05, 2024, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=G91P.

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