Fostering community was an important component of Barbara Gaudio Taylor’s life. A 1984 graduate of Slippery Rock University, Gaudio Taylor valued education, Greek life and her career serving others as a recreational therapist. Those who have helped establish and maintain a scholarship in her memory are seeing it as just one more gift of lasting community on behalf of Gaudio Taylor.
The Barbara J. Gaudio Taylor Recreational Therapy Scholarship provides $1,500 per year to recreational therapy students at SRU who exhibit leadership in their student or professional organizations, or community service. Preference is given to students involved in Greek life and/or students who are U.S. military veterans. The scholarship was established in 2022 after Gaudio Taylor passed away on Jan. 22, 2021, following a four-year illness
“There is another gift in doing this together with others” said Kelley McCombie Brown ’83, a friend and former sorority sister of Gaudio Taylor. “The scholarship reconnects us to the friendships and experiences that shaped us at Slippery Rock and gives us a shared purpose today. We are honoring our past while investing in someone else’s future, and I can’t think of a more meaningful way to remember Barb.
“Her name lives on, her story continues to be told and because people continue to give in her memory, her life continues to make a difference.”
The initiative was originally planned to be a temporary, four-year commitment but, through work by Gaudio Taylor’s family, friends and sorority sisters, it has now grown into a permanent, fully endowed scholarship that sometimes has multiple recipients if funds are available.
“This financial relief allows students to engage in vital clinical environments, including animal-assisted interventions and equine-assisted therapy research,” said Teresa “Terry” Thome ’82, a friend of Gaudio Taylor and Alpha Sigma Tau sorority sister. “It is so rewarding to see Barb’s legacy thriving and growing.”
McCombie Brown, who has been critical to fundraising efforts, appreciates how the scholarship has not just sustained, but rather become something even larger since its creation.
“What has been especially meaningful is seeing that commitment not only continue but grow,” McCombie Brown said. “To me, that says something very special about the life Barb lived and the relationships she built. Year after year, our Alpha Sigma Tau sisters, Barb’s friends and family, and fellow SRU alumni who knew and loved her have continued to support the scholarship –– and we are grateful for that support.”
Gaudio Taylor lived her life in service of others, particularly through a 24-year career with the Butler VA Health Care System, where she was able to share her appreciation of both veterans and community.
“Though Barb has passed, her passion for service and community health thrives,” Thome said. “Scholarship recipients are becoming ‘mini-Barbs,’ some following in her footsteps to serve older populations and veterans. Donors and alumni enjoy following these remarkable recipients as they launch their recreational therapy careers.”
More information about the Barbara J. Gaudio Taylor Recreational Therapy Scholarship and donating to this scholarship is available on the SRU Foundation website.
