Alma Leo Taylor was born on March 23, 1902, in Portland, IN, to William J. and Johanna Adelman Leo. She had one older sister, Hattie, along with younger siblings Clyde, Edna, Elsie, and Lillian. By 1904, the family had moved to Greensburg.

Alma graduated from Greensburg High School in 1920. She spent several years working in a variety of secretarial positions in Indianapolis. On May 22, 1946, she married Earl J. Taylor and together moved to his farm just north of Greensburg, outside of Sandusky. The Taylor’s were very involved in the community, participating in local political events and were members of the local Elks Club.

In the mid-1960’s, Earl and Alma visited her brother, Clyde, in Alabama and decided they liked the weather there. They then retired and moved from Greensburg to Theodore, Alabama.

Alma kept up with Greensburg’s news via a subscription to the Greensburg Daily News. After the deaths of her husband and brother in the 1990’s, Alma had her attorney drive her to a neighboring town each week to do her shopping because “it looked like Greensburg.” Alma Leo Taylor passed away on January 25, 2001, and is buried in Alabama. Her husband, mother, and three sisters are buried in South Park Cemetery in Greensburg.

Greensburg’s Courthouse Square has been the heart of Decatur County since Greensburg was settled by Thomas Hendricks in 1821. As a means to encourage the revitalization of the Historic Downtown Square, the Downtown Greensburg Development Corporation (DGDC) was established on September 18, 1985.

The DGDC was notified in 2001 that Alma Leo Taylor had passed away in Alabama and that her will disclosed monetary gifts to several Greensburg not-for-profits, including the DGDC.

in 2009, the DGDC Board decided to use this investment to create the “Alma Taylor Foundation” with the purpose of helping commercial building owners maintain and upgrade their structures thus preserving the Historic Downtown Square for years to come.

Since that first grant was awarded in 2009, the Alma Taylor Foundation has awarded more than $476,000 in grant monies with this goal in mind. We are committed to providing these grants for many years by being good stewards of the Foundation’s assets.