Anonymous
Eulogy
Mike Taylor
by Melinda Taylor-Kelly
March 15th, 1941 ~ February 3rd, 2006
My Father, Mike Taylor, was a remarkable man. His life was full of great achievements; in high school, he was a star athlete in football, basketball and track. He excelled in everything he set out to do, and he continued this throughout his life. After he graduated from Madison Heights High school in 1960, he could have went to college on a scholarship, but he joined the Marine corp. He returned home, and married my Mother Lois on February 7, 1961. Dad did three tours in Vietnam, two on land and one on sea, during this time my sisters Phyllis, and Lisa were born; I came a few years after he was discharged from the Marines.
Dad worked in aerospace most of his adult life. He was active in many veteran organizations; The VFW, Am Vets, American Legion, and the Marine Corps league. He has been very active in these groups, some like the VFW for many years, In Gardena California he was a commander of post 3261.
After Dad passed, I started thinking of words that I could use to describe him, and many started flooding my mind: Strong, intelligent, loving, funny, modest, courageous, and true to his convictions, my Dad was all of this, and so much more.
Dad was one of my first teachers in life, and I know that many people would describe their parents this way, but with Dad, it was so much more. My Dad was an American, I mean, he understood what that meant. He knew that wars were really not for some government, but to be a Marine you needed to believe that you were fighting for more than a president or country, you were fighting for your family, freedom for people you did not even know, your honor and your beliefs. My Dad was this Marine. He was this man. He taught his children to believe in our voice, and that we were given this privilege because he fought for it. He empowered his daughters with knowledge of being an American.
Dad and I did not always agree with each other politically, but that really did not matter, what mattered was that we knew we had that freedom to believe in different things, and that knowing this, we understood what being an American was about.
In the space of less than two months my family has lost both our mother and father, we are using their love to get us through this time.
My father had a very dry sarcastic sense of humor, we inherited this from him, and there was always laughter in our home.
I know I have spoken a lot about him as a marine, and an athlete, but my Dad was much more than this. Even if the Marine Corps said that if you were meant to have a family, you would be issued one, he had a family. We moved around a lot with Dad working in aerospace, my Mom use to say that it was as if we never were out of the Marines, because we just kept moving. This made our family stronger, with moving we would lose friends, but we always had each other, this has continued into our adult lives. Our parents taught us that this was the most important thing in life, family. My Dad may have been a Marine, an athlete, but he was Dad first and foremost to us, he was the one that we could count on, he was the one that knew the answers, and he was the one that could fix everything. As a father, my dad was very giving, loving, and simply put amazing. I am thankful to have had him as my father.
He continued this on with my children, his grandchildren were his life, and he loved each one of them very much. They I know will miss him daily, as many us will.
It does not really matter who my Father was, what matters is how we remember him.
Do not go gentle into that good night
By Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught