COLUMBUS — Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens can remember the last words he heard Ward 1 Councilman Gene Taylor say, Sunday afternoon as the two men were leaving church.
“I was with him all day Saturday. I was with him all day Sunday, at church, and he was just telling the mayor, ‘We’ve just got to get along better. We’ve got to make Columbus a better place,'” Mickens remembered. “These were the last words I heard him saying: ‘We’ve got to work better together.'”
Taylor, 65, died Monday morning at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle of natural causes. According to Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant, he became ill that morning and was taken to the hospital where he passed away a short time later.
By all accounts, the last words Mickens heard him say reflected Taylor’s attitude toward Columbus, and certainly his ward, where residents knew him as a kindly volunteer who served food and played with kids at events at Townsend Community Center, which was built during his tenure on the council.
A lifelong Columbus resident, Taylor was a self-professed sports fan who especially loved cheering on the Columbus High School basketball team. Before becoming a councilman, he worked for Cisco Foods in its transportation department for nearly 30 years. He was the father to three daughters and a grandfather, and he had been married to his wife Terry for more than 20 years.
His friends and co-workers described him as caring, and always ready to extend a hand to help. He was quiet and unassuming, though he had a clever sense a humor.
“The best word to describe Gene Taylor is ‘gentle,'” Taylor’s friend, Columbus Mayor Robert Smith, said in a statement. “He always found the best in every situation and would lift the spirits of those he met each and every day.”
He was thoughtful and never said a bad word about anybody, said his pastor James Boyd, who knew Taylor for 11 years. Boyd said Taylor regularly attended Zion Gate Missionary Baptist Church for 10 years and served on the board of trustees. Boyd said Taylor clearly thought about Boyd’s sermons and sometimes talked to his pastor about how to apply them to his own life.
“I’ve never known him to condemn another person,” Boyd said. “If he had problems, or somebody had problems with him, he would never make a case against them.
“He was always conscious of whether he was right or wrong and he made amends for it,” he added.
Any time there were events or volunteer opportunities, Taylor was there to help out, said Columbus resident and volunteer Annie Barry.
“He would be our councilman, then he would be our janitor if he had to be,” she said. “…Whatever task we asked Gene to do, he would do it, from master of ceremonies to janitor.”
Mickens said Taylor talked to everyone he could, whether in his neighborhood and ward or employees in different city departments, making himself available.
“He was talking to everyone,” Mickens said. “Everyone who knew him loved him. He was a lovable guy, he really was. We’re going to miss him.”
A legacy in Ward 1
Taylor was first elected to the council in 2006, following in the footsteps of Smith, who was Ward 1 councilman before he was mayor.
At the time of his death, Taylor was the most senior member of the council. Every other councilman said when they first joined, Taylor would offer to help them out, answer questions and give them any guidance they asked for — such as how to talk to the press, Mickens said.
“He sort of talked to me and told me what to expect,” said Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones.
In the 13 years Taylor was on the council, quality of life improved throughout his ward, said Barry, who is a lifelong resident of Ward 1. Taylor oversaw the building of basketball courts and Townsend Community Center, and took steps to remove abandoned homes and other eyesores in the area.
“Him and the mayor totally have changed … Southside,” agreed Mickens, who said Taylor “fought tooth and nail” for his ward and constituents. “Southside don’t look like the old Southside since he’s been there. The streets are cleaner, they’ve got paved streets over there. They’ve got sidewalks. He was really dedicated to Southside.”
Ward 3 Councilman Charlie Box said if there was one project Taylor was particularly immersed in, it was Townsend Community Center.
“He was passionate about that park,” Box said.
With the building of the park, Barry and other regular Southside volunteers and residents would host events there, such as National Night Out. During those events, Taylor would frequently be present, serving food or playing sports with kids.
“Every event that we had at Townsend, we could depend on Councilman Taylor’s support and most of the time his presence,” Barry said.
His work as councilman went beyond just his ward, though. Box said he was as committed to the city of Columbus as a whole as he was to his ward.
“I frequently called Councilman Taylor for his thoughts on important items concerning our city,” Smith said. “His guidance on many items helped our city.
“Columbus is better because of Gene Taylor,” he added. “He will always be remembered.”
While city officials have not released any information on a special election to fill Taylor’s seat, it was already on Barry’s mind Monday.
“I hope the person that replaces him will be as caring as Gene,” she said. “Gene was our councilman, but Gene was also a human being that cared about other people, and to me, that spoke volumes.”
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