Millie's Glasshouse

By Mary Alice Carhart

This story originally appeared 1961 in The Ledger-Star of Norfolk, Virginia.

Vice Adm. J. McN. Taylor must pour a new foundation each time he changes duty stations.

The foundations are not those of houses but of greenhouses, a project of his wife Amelia (Millie) Wade Taylor.

Adm. Taylor became Commander, Amphibious Forces, Atlantic, on Dec. 10, succeeding Vice Adm. George Towner.

Having just moved into their Little Creek Amphibious Base quarters, the couple still await shipment of the greenhouse purchased in England.

"The English call them glasshouses," said the attractive gray-haired Mrs. Taylor. "We call ours 'Millie's Glasshouse.' "

"Adopted San Franciscans," both Adm. and Mrs. Taylor are originally from the South - she from Birmingham, Ala., and he from Knoxville, Tenn.

"I went to California as a young girl. My father was in the real estate business.

"I had the usual interests as a child. I loved nature."

She majored in liveral arts at the College of Pasadena.

Although she had known her husband back in Tennessee, it wasn't until after he finished the Naval Academy with distinction in 1926 that she dated him.

"He graduated and came out to the West Coast. From then on he was the 'only one.'

"Shortly after we were married we went to the Orient.

"We were there three years. It was really quite a wonderful experience.

"My husband was attached to the Destroyer USS Parrott. It seemed like he had almost every position on it except 'exec' and 'CO'."

They "didn't have much money" but they did have a wealth of experience while in the Orient, Mrs. Taylor reported.

"The destroyers operated from Cheffo, China to Manila.

"When the ships left, the wives would go trundling off behind them."

The admiral's wife says she will always remember a Chinese amah (maid) who told her. "Missy, when I'm reincarnated I would like to be an American woman because you have so much!"

This is by no means the Taylors' first tour of duty in Norfolk.

In September, 1933, Adm. Taylor was chief of staff to the Commander, Amphibious Forces, Atlantic. A year later he became deputy commander of the Armed Forces Staff College.

He goes by J. McN. Taylor as "there are so many J. M. Taylors in the Navy."

In addition to her glasshouse, Mrs. Taylor collects stamps and first covers and indulges in gourmet cooking and bird watching.

Terming her glasshouse "my personal property - definitely not the Navy's" - she said her husband plans to assemble it as soon as it arrives.

"He's darling about setting it up and getting it down. He's primarily an engineer - a tinkerer.

"I raise flowering plants and cuttings in it. I furnish a lot of seedlings for bazaars."

While stationed in Washington, D.C., she supplied plants for the famed National Cathedral Garden Mart.

"I'm real glad to be back in Norfolk. I hope to resume work with the Navy Relief, Red Cross and the Social Service.

The couple who boast five god-children plan to retire in San Francisco - "right in the city."

"It's going to be difficult as I don't know where I'll put 'Millie's Glasshouse.' "