Born in Norwood, Taylor's family moved to Mount Gambier while she was still an infant. Here, aged seven, Taylor fell from a ladder and injured her leg causing her to limp. Four years later, back in Adelaide, she had an accident which damaged her spine and left her in hospital for extended periods over several years and in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Taylor also suffered from rheumatoid arthritis which further decreased her mobility. However, she was determined to only rely on others when absolutely necessary and devised methods to perform tasks such as putting on make-up and using the telephone. Taylor and her mother refused the suggestion that she should live at the Home for Incurables.

During the Depression of the 1930s Taylor became concerned about the welfare of the poor. She established a soup kitchen at a local school, organised fund-raising, was secretary of a local kindergarten mothers' club and of the West Norwood sub-branch of the Australian Labor Party. In the early 1950s she was the public relations officer for the South Australian division of the Australian Pensioners' League and during this time she began to campaign for the rights of the elderly, infirm and underprivileged. She understood the desire of the aged to be looked after at home, if possible, rather than to be institutionalised.

In 1953 Taylor launched Meals On Wheels a service which provided five hot meals a week to elderly residents in their own homes. The meals were nutritious and the visit of the volunteers who delivered them provided social contact. Taylor's method was based on schemes established in London during the Second World War and later in south Melbourne and was the first such organisation to be incorporated in Australia. Aged pensioners provided the first donation of five pounds ($10) to help establish the organisation. The first Meals on Wheels kitchen was established in Port Adelaide on 9 August 1954 with 11 volunteers. Additional kitchens followed in Norwood, Hindmarsh and Woodville. Taylor was the paid organiser of Meals On Wheels from 1958 until her death in 1968. She was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services to the community in 1959.

Meals On Wheels was named a BankSA Heritage Icon in 2004.

1953: Established Meals On Wheels in South Australia

9 August 1954: Opened first Meals on Wheels kitchen in Port Adelaide

1 January 1959: Made Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services to the community

1958-1968: Paid organiser of Meals On Wheels

2004: Meals On Wheels named a BankSA Heritage Icon

Baldwin, Suzy, ed. Unsung heroes & heroines of Australia, Elwood, Vic.: Greenhouse, 1988

'Biographies of nine in SA Honors list: Social welfare', The Advertiser, 1 January 1959, p. 3 [Doris Taylor awarded MBE]

Cudmore, Michael. A meal a day: a history of Meals on Wheels in South Australia, 1953-1996, Wayville, SA: Meals on Wheels (SA), 1996

Meals on Wheels Inc. (S. Aust.). Meals on Wheels: what it is - how it began - what it is now - what it can become!, [Adelaide: Griffin Pr., 1964]

'Tributes to Meals on Wheels founder', The Advertiser, 24 May 1968, p. 3

Australian Dictionary of Biography Online: Search for Taylor, Doris

Meals On Wheels Inc. South Australia: See History

National Trust of South Australia: See BankSA Heritage Icons: 2004