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WEBER COUNTY — Community members made some special holiday deliveries on Saturday to honor a slain hero. Not one, but two Christmas trees were dropped off at two special places in memory of Maj. Brent Taylor.
Taylor, North Ogden mayor and a major in Utah's Army National Guard, was killed during an "apparent insider attack" in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday, Nov. 3.
The trees were created as part of the Christmas Tree Jubilee in Ogden, an annual event to raise money for the Weber School District Foundation. Christmas trees are decorated and sold to raise money for kids with special needs in the county, but this year’s event was much more than a fundraiser.
“I think people walked in and saw it and were really appreciative,” said Weber School Foundation Executive Director Emily Oyler about one of the two trees decorated in Taylor’s honor. “It really helped everybody remember what we’re here for and that’s to serve other people.”
“It just feels like a family — our PTA family, our school family, my kid’s friends too, we know that they’re with us and they’re aware of us and they’re mourning with us,” said Taylor’s widow Jennie Taylor, who is on the Orion Junior High School PTA.
Her fellow PTA members surprised her by decorating one of the trees to memorialize her husband.
The other tree was created by a mom in the school district.
“I have a chance to work frequently with mayors, policy mayors, legislators, and there’s nobody that I had greater admiration, respect for than Brent Taylor,” said Weber School District Superintendent Jeff Stephens, who helped deliver the trees.
“It just seems so fitting, especially for this first Christmas, to have him near, to have him with us, to have him part of our home. I treasure those pictures we have of him with each of our children. They’ll keep those forever,” Jennie Taylor said.
While one of the trees didn’t fit in their house, the Taylor family found the perfect spot for it — the public works building which held a special place in Taylor’s heart.
“He loved the snowplows. You better believe at 3 a.m., he’s up with them. We want the snowplow teams to know that we love them and know that Brent loves them and maybe when they get in a truck at 3 in the morning, they’ll feel like he’s right there with them with his bright orange construction vest,” Jennie Taylor said.
It just seems so fitting especially for this first Christmas to have him near, to have him with us, to have him part of our home.
–Jennie Taylor
There’s no question, this Christmas won’t be the same for Taylor's wife and seven kids.
“Half of the holidays, he’s been gone on some assignment. The thought that overwhelms me is the fact that there’s 50 years ahead that he’ll still be gone,” she said.
But now, each year when his family and the city decorate for Christmas, they will forever have a reminder of Taylor.
“Hopefully, now we represent something larger than us. That patriotic nerve has been awakened in a lot of people, and I hope it stays awakened and alive and it kindles something that we can do together as a community to bring about some good, even in the midst of a shocking tragedy,” Jennie Taylor said.
