Tawnya Taylor, 35, of West Fargo passed away in the late morning hours on Friday, June 12, 2026, at Sanford Medical Center, Fargo, ND.

Tawnya was born on March 8, 1991, in Bismarck ND, the youngest of three daughters born to Neil and Korreena (Lyons) Taylor. She graduated from Moorhead High School in 2009 and went on to attend Sacramento State, NDSU and graduated from Kaplan University in 2012.

Tawnya married Edward Lietz, the love of her life, on April 29, 2017, in Fargo, ND. They lived in West Fargo.

Tawnya started her working career at Noridian as a data processor. She later moved to the Freedom Resource Center for Independent living as a Peer mentoring specialist, during that time she was selected as one of the United Way's 35 under 35 women's leadership program. Great Plains food bank was the next step in her career as S.N.A.P coordinator. Tawnya then moved to the housing administrative field. She worked for Fargo Housing Authority & Development Authority for several years before going to Cass County Housing Authority. She had the position of Deputy Director and then Executive Housing Director at Cass County Housing Authority.

Tawnya loved animals, baking, and spending time with her family. Her dedication to animals provided multiple litters of rescue kittens & mother cats a foster home. It also resulted in a personal forever home to Kit Kat, Twix, Raven and Elphaba. She fancied the Maine Coon breed which added Churro to their personal clowder.

Tawnya often baked cookies, breads, cupcakes and especially designer cakes for family and friend special occasions. She loved to travel and has been to most of the continental United States. Her travels internationally include France, England, Ireland.

Tawnya is survived by her Husband of 9 years Edward Lietz; parents, Neil & Korreena (Lyons) Taylor; sisters, Tabitha (Travis) Talkington & Tausha (Matt) Menaquale; brother & sisters-in-law, Tim & Tara Mather, and Andy & Nikki Lietz; aunts, Kelly Lesney & Nikki Lyons; uncles, Daniel Lesney & Daniel Lyons; nephews & nieces, Alexander, Victoria, Christian & Madison Talkington, Sofia & Cameron Menaquale, Jaxson, Mikylah, Aliviah, Izzy, Jayden & Greyson Mather, Zina, Gaven and Lee Lietz; and cousins, Frank, Ben & Rick Lesney, Sydney & Wyatt Lyons.

Tawnya was preceded in death by her grandparents; Ronald & Beverly (Christmann) Lyons, James Taylor and Cheryl (Minnick) Taylor-Neff.

A funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, June 25, 2026, at Wright Funeral Home, 605 S. 2nd Ave, Moorhead, MN 56560. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the funeral service. Burial will be in the Fargo National Cemetery at 1 p.m.

A livestream of the service will be available here on Tawnya’s page. 

As a tribute to Tawnya, family would love for you to wear her favorite color, orange. 

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to any of the following organizations listed below in Tawnya's name and Memory:

Shriners Children’s Hospital Minneapolis.

Cats Cradle Shelter Inc. Fargo

OI Foundation. The Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation (OI Foundation) can be reached by phone at (301) 947-0083 or toll-free at (844) 889-7579. For inquiries or general information, email them at bonelink@oif.org.