Biography

Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana December 8, 1943, my family moved to the Pacific Northwest city of Seattle in 1946. My Dad, Kilrain Taylor heard there were jobs in the area so he moved the family to the Evergreen State. His first job was at the Olympic Foundry.

Our first home was in the Duwamish Bend housing project located on both sides of S. Michigan Street between 4th Avenue S and 6th Avenue S. The projects opened in 1943 built for workers building ships and planes during World War II. The prefabricated frame homes and apartments had a living room, kitchen, coal and wood stove, ice box, bathroom, electricity, and water. When street lights were installed, each tenant could control the light outside their home in lieu of a porch light. Telephone service was not available for two years. We were living large after leaving the shot-gun house in Lake Charles.

We lived there until 1949. By this time the family had grown to 5 children, Shirley, Robert, Zina, Rosie Bee and Larry. Larry was the only child born in Seattle. The 3 older children attended Duwamish Bend Elementary School which was later named Holgate.

Our next home was in the Holly Park Projects. No more ice boxes and wood/coal stoves - wow, we thought we were living in the lap of luxury.

During our stay at Holly Park, the kids attended Van Asselt Elementary School and Sharples Junior High.

Our next move found the family in the CD (Central District of Seattle) on the corner of 12th Avenue and Remington Court.

The three younger children attended Bailey Gatzert, while Robert and Shirley went to Washington Junior High. All eventually found their way to Garfield High School and from there went their respective ways: Shirley to Queens, NY, Robert joined the Army, Zina to Killeen Texas, Rosie to Los Angeles, and Larry to Western Washington University in Bellingham.

I eventually found my way back to Seattle in 1963, married with my first son Curtis in tow. Curtis was eventually joined by Maurice in 1965 and Jason in 1975.

My first "real" job was at the Boeing Company. I was hired in 1967 and spent my first 20 years building wire bundles for the 727 and 737. In 1987 I was asked if I would like to teach what I knew and was hired by the Employee Training and Development Organization to teach electrical certification and fabrication to employees. I was the first African American women to serve as an instructor in that area.

That was the best part of my 31 years at Boeing. I took an early retirement in 1999 at the age of 55.

While at Boeing, I took advantage of their free computer training classes and learned courses that led to a home based business called Zina's Word Processing. I used those skills to display my love of writing and produced a magazine called "Gospel Northwest."
The magazine's goal was to provide a national media source for Northwest gospel music artists. It covered artists in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho and Vancouver Canada.

After a year of publishing a hard copy the magazine went online with the help of my son Curtis who has a degree in Computer Science. My first attempt at a website was pretty crude, but I took courses in website development and turned that into a business called GNW Website Development and Hosting.

My love of singing took my musical journey to the church choir, community choirs and eventually to the chapter choir of the Gospel Music Workshop of America. I joined the Seattle Chapter in 1991. That Chapter merged with the Vancouver Canada Chapter and the Washington State Chapter to become the Pacific Northwest Chapter but the name changed back to the Washington State Chapter.

That part of my musical journey has been awesome. I currently serve as the Chapter Rep Emeritus of the Washington State Chapter and Administrative Assistant of the National James Cleveland Gospel Chorus

I currently live in Federal Way, Washington, 20 miles south of Seattle.

I am now the proud grandmother of 5: Leticia, Maurice, Andre, Sierra and Alexis, and the great-grandmother of Joseph and Samantha and MJ.

It's been an awesome journey.