The Rev. Dennis Taylor R.N., Deacon, was born and reared in the Mississippi River drainage. Born in the shadow of Seabury Seminary in Illinois, and baptized into the Episcopal Church at the age of eight months in Kansas. Confirmed in the North Suburbs of Chicago, at the age of ten, they needed acolytes.

After graduating high school in the South Suburbs of Chicago, and two years of college, the draft loomed, so enlisted in the Navy and served four and a half years as a corpsman. During that time, as He was being transferred from the East Coast to the West Coast. He met Mary Ann and they were married six months later.

After being discharged from the Navy, Dennis began a 40-year career in health care at Skagit Valley Hospital, completing requirements for a nursing license at Skagit Valley College along with a paramedic certification eventually specializing in emergency, hospice and palliative care and eventually faith community (parish nursing) nursing.