Charlotte Pinckney Taylor

Taylor—Charlotte Pinckney Taylor, 94, on October 21, 2021, peacefully, at Kendal at Longwood, a continuing care retirement community in Kennett Square, Pa. Charlotte had been a resident for 34 years.

Born in New York City on June 28, 1927, the second daughter of George Francis Taylor and Lillian Helms Taylor, Charlotte spent her youth in the suburbs of New York and Philadelphia. She graduated from Barnard College with honors in psychology. While working at Columbia University and for the Friends Service Committee, she acquired master’s degrees in history from Columbia and student personnel administration from Teachers College.

The U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka encouraged her to teach and/or counsel in schools in Maryland and Delaware for ten years. It also determined the focus of her doctoral dissertation, “Changes in Self-Concept in the First Year of Desegregated Schools.”

Charlotte received a doctorate in behavior science from the University of Delaware in 1967. Following three years as director of instruction at the former Newark School District, she taught for the University of Delaware on both the main campus and in the Connected Degree program at Delaware Technical and Community College. After the 1976 publication of her book Transforming Schools, she completed a two-year internship and was licensed as a practicing psychologist.

While living in Newark and Wilmington, Charlotte was active in professional, Quaker, and political organizations. She was president of the “Committee of 39,” a nonpartisan good government group that preceded the formation of Common Cause in Delaware. She was serving as president of the Delaware Board of Examiners of Psychologists in 1986 when medical issues forced her to retire from professional life.

The effects of post-polio syndrome led Charlotte to become an “early admission” to Kendal at Longwood, where she became involved in resident activities and Kendal Meeting. She was active in the Kennett Square area on behalf of affordable housing and teaching English as a second language.

Charlotte’s life was graced by a love of music and art, rewarding challenges, and many good friends.

She was preceded in death by a sister, Elizabeth Taylor Goshorn; one nephew; one grandnephew; and one great-grandniece. She is survived by one niece; two grandnieces; eight great-grandnieces and -grandnephews; and two great-great-grandnieces.