Water Rails & Oil - Historic Mid & South Jefferson County

commercial properties, and property
management. At this time, it handles quite
a number of condominiums at Pleasure
Island, which are managed as corporate
rentals for industrial customers.
When Frank B. Taylor, Jr., who was known
by his friends as F. B., returned to his
hometown of Port Arthur, Texas, after
World War II, he began attending Lamar
College in Beaumont. During this time,
he met his future wife, Martha Crouch,
daughter of Freeman B. and Olie Crouch
of Port Arthur. Martha transferred to North
Texas State University in Denton, and
F. B. attended the University of Texas at Austin.
On December 20, 1947, not long after she
received her B.S. degree from North Texas,
Martha and F. B. were married at the Methodist
Temple in Port Arthur. They lived in Austin
until he received his Bachelor of Business
Administration degree, at which time they
moved back to Port Arthur.
F. B.’s first job was as a ticket agent with
Kansas City Southern Railroad, located at
the end of Proctor Street and Houston
Avenue. Martha worked as a substitute math
teacher in the Port Arthur school system. F. B.
then sold Chevrolet vehicles at Inman
Chevrolet on Proctor Street. Spurred by his love
of selling and the desire to own his own
business, F. B. did not have the capital to buy
a new car dealership. He had experienced the
country’s Depression years, so he wanted to
sell something the public needed to buy year
after year, even when the economy was bad.
He considered the grocery business, but again,
did not have the capital for this.
In 1955, he formed the F. B. Taylor
Insurance Agency “from scratch,” in the
dining room of his home on Bryan Avenue in
Groves. He began as a “captive agent” for
Hardware Mutual Insurance Company, but
due to some contract changes with the
insurance company, decided it was time to
strike out on his own.
❖
Above: Sharon Graffagnino, Bill
Taylor, Lillian Prince, Jules Goldberg,
F. B. Taylor, George Taylor, Vickie
Rabalais, and Oralia Cortez.
Below: An early photo of the staff of
F. B.Taylor Insurance.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 63