Dover Exchange Military Clothing Store Manager Honored for Service to Fallen Heroes

Left to right, Teo Smith, Exchange General Manager; Julie Blanks, Principal Director for Military Community and Family Policy; Barbara Taylor, Dover AFB Military Clothing Store Manager; Ann Thomas Johnston, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy; Karin Orvis, Director, Transition to Veterans Program Office; Exchange department managers Lisa Cain, Yvette Copeland and Yvette Russell.

Barbara Taylor knows her phone can ring any time, day or night. She knows she must answer. She knows her work directly honors those service members who gave their last full measure of devotion.

As manager of the Dover Air Force Base Exchange’s Military Clothing store in Delaware, Taylor is on call 24/7 to support the Department of Defense’s only mortuary in the continental U.S. Taylor makes sure fallen heroes have their uniforms complete as they are laid to rest.

“Taking care of those who gave their life for us is nothing but an honor,” Taylor said. “I am always available for Mortuary Affairs. I have to be here to make sure the fallen have everything they need. Sundays … late nights … it doesn’t matter. They have my personal number. They call me, and the Exchange is here for them.”

“Taking care of those who gave their life for us is
nothing but an honor.”

-Barbara Taylor, manager, Military Clothing Store, Dover AFB

For treating our Nation’s fallen heroes with such care and compassion, Taylor received a coin from Ann Thomas Johnston, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy during her visit to the Dover Exchange  on Aug. 21.

The Dover Exchange team also hosted Julie Blanks, Principal Director for Military Community and Family Policy; and Karin Orvis, Director of the Transition to Veterans Program Office, reinforcing the Exchange’s mission, relevancy and commitment to family serving family.

“Receiving the coin was so special—it blew my mind,” Taylor said. “It’s such an honor to support the military. Service members give their lives for us. I have such respect for the men and women who serve.”

Taylor’s Exchange career will end soon. She’s retiring this year after 32 years—all at the Dover Exchange.

“The Exchange gave me a chance to prove myself,” she said. “Working for the Exchange is the best job I ever had.”