Adele Taggart, former co-owner of LV concrete company, dies

Adele Taggart, the matriarch of a former Las Vegas family that was prominent in the local concrete industry and in Republican politics in the 1960s and '70s, has died in Wyoming. She was 81.

Taggart died at her home in Cody last Wednesday. Services were Monday in Wyoming. Interment was in the Riverside Cemetery in Cody.

Taggart was the wife of Lloyd W. Taggart, former owner of WMK Transit Mix, the concrete company that had a hand in building many major local structures, including the old Dunes and the original MGM Grand hotel-casino, now Bally's. The couple also owned WMK Builders Products and Taggart Construction Co.

They were the parents of Lloyd "Tag" Taggart, an aide to Ronald Reagan during his successful 1980 presidential campaign.

Although she co-owned WMK, Adele left the task of running the company to her husband.

"Adele loved being a homebody and raising her family," said Stan Skaza, vice president of sales for CSR, the company that bought the then-40-year-old WMK in 1990. He had worked for the Taggarts in the same capacity since 1975.

"For many years, they were very active in local charities and in the Mormon Church."

While living in Las Vegas from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, Adele was a volunteer for the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society. She also held several positions in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

The Taggarts bought WMK in 1964, 14 years after it was founded by three men whose last name initials comprised the firm's name, which the Taggarts declined to change.

The Taggarts turned the business into the area's largest concrete company of that era, purchasing numerous other building companies, including Akins Block in 1977. A year later, WMK Block had doubled its production to 8 million cinder blocks a year.

In 1980, the Taggarts sold WMK to ARC America, which 10 years later sold it to the Colonial Sugar Refinery, an Australian-based company. Two years ago, CSR dropped the WMK initials from its name.

As longtime residents of the posh Scotch 80s ranch estates, the Taggarts were well known for their Western art collection, which included antique quilts and Indian jewelry that Adele had personally collected.

Her son, Tag, also was a fine art collector and dealer.

A strong supporter of then-Nevada Gov. Bob List, Tag Taggart was selected by the GOP to run for lieutenant governor in 1982. However, a day before the filing deadline, Tag pulled out of the race citing a lack of financing for his campaign. Today, he lives in Salt Lake City.

Mrs. Taggart was born Adele Shields on Jan. 23, 1917, in Sedalia, Mo., the only daughter of Del Almond Shields and Adeline Corine Shields.

When Adele was 7, her father died, and she and her mother moved to Casper, Wyo. Adele was attending the University of Wyoming in the late 1930s when she met Lloyd Taggart. They married on July 12, 1940.

During World War II, Lloyd worked for Boeing Aircraft in Seattle.

Adele was baptized into the Mormon Church in Las Vegas. She and Lloyd later remarried in the St. George Temple.

She also was active in the Clark County and Nevada State Republican parties. In Wyoming, Adele was a member of the Cody County Art League and Kappa Kappa Gamma. A gourmet cook and a skilled seamstress, Adele enjoyed playing bridge.

In addition to her husband and son, Taggart is survived by three other sons, Bryan Taggart, of Salt Lake City, Todd Taggart of Bullhead City, Ariz., and Marc Taggart, of Cody; two daughters, Becky Flippin of Las Vegas and Judy Norcross of Cody; 23 grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

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