Op-ed: Kent Taylor, the rest of the story

Monday, Aug. 27, 2012. This is the date that Kent Taylor died.

He was a former city employee, painted on the side for years and volunteered for the “Salvation Army”, “Good Shepherd” and other places, and always wore plaid shirts. His family granted his wishes and did not have a funeral or much of an obituary in the paper. You see all Kent wanted was a one-paragraph obituary, he got just what he wanted and that was much to the dismay of many people. I am here to tell you about a man that was as gruff and ornery as could be, but had a heart of gold, and was our friend. I have known Kent for over thirty years, and can tell you that he was a super nice person, and would do anything for anybody; he rarely let people see that side of him, but every once in awhile it slipped out.

When the building of Prairie Playground was starting, he stopped down and gave me a hard time about helping with the build. “Hey Kent, why don’t you come and help?” I asked. “Let those kids play out in the street like I used to”, he said. He dropped of shovels and rakes later that day and left. The next day he showed up to help, continued to be there every day of the build, and stayed later than most of the volunteers. He loved his family his girls, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and in his own way even loved some of his friends. More people will miss him than he would have ever thought or would care to admit. Auctions will never be the same without him.

Jerry and Cathee Anderson