Some people pass away in their sleep or quietly slip away in a nursing home or hospital room.
That would never have been Chris Taylor’s style, though.
Taylor, a well-known activist and community leader in Starkville, passed away Saturday in West Point, where he was attending the Prairie Arts Festival, spending his final hours meeting everyone but a stranger.
He was 69.
“He lived large, laughed large and loved large,” said Yulanda Haddix, a lifelong friend and successor to Taylor as president of the Oktibbeha County NAACP. “I was out Saturday afternoon when someone called and told me he died. I said I didn’t think it was true. It couldn’t be true. I was devastated. I just had to turn around and go back home.”
Coming home
Taylor was born and raised in Oktibbeha County. He spent almost 31 years in the Army, including deployments in Kosovo and Afghanistan, and retired in 2006 with the rank of command sergeant major.
He returned to Starkville upon retirement intent on serving his community. In a Progress Magazine interview in 2018, Taylor said his link to the local NAACP was a major factor in coming back to Starkville.
“I wanted to follow in my uncle’s footsteps,” Taylor said. “My uncle, Clarence Taylor, was instrumental in starting the Oktibbeha County chapter of the NAACP in 1969. I really wanted to continue that family legacy.”
Taylor was a member of the NAACP the rest of his life, serving as the local chapter president for seven years (2012-2019) before turning over the reins to Haddix, an old family friend.
“We were from the same neighborhood,” Haddix said. “My dad and Chris were both military men, so they bonded over that. So I’ve known him all my life. He was like family to us. When he told me he wanted me to take over as president of the NAACP, at first I didn’t want to do it. But he convinced me. He was really my mentor. He knew the NAACP inside and out and was always there to encourage me when things were hard. He was such an upbeat, positive person. Everybody who ever knew him will tell you that.”
In addition to his service with the NAACP, Taylor also served on the board of Starkville’s Bridges Out of Poverty as well as a committee member of Unity Park, established to honor those in the community who played significant roles in civil rights. He was also active with the American Red Cross and American Legion Post 240.
A constant presence
“It always seemed to me that Chris was at every event,” said Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill. “I had just seen him Friday night at an event on Main Street, and he was the same Chris he always was — just a wonderful representative of the community and a great role model for kids through his status as an Army veteran, which he took a lot of pride in. He was so supportive of Starkville, just an upbeat, positive person and a fabulous member of our community.”
Haddix marveled at Taylor’s disposition.
“He would have disagreements, like anybody, and there were things he felt strongly about and would argue for, but I never once saw him get angry,” Haddix said. “He was always able to disagree without causing hard feelings.”
Rep. Cheikh Taylor, a distant relative, said Chris Taylor made an indelible and permanent mark on the community.
“There are very few Chris Taylors in any community,” he said. “He was relatively young coming out of the service, and he could have done anything he wanted, lived anywhere he wanted and had kind of a selfish life. But he came back with resources and a mindset to help the community, and that’s exactly what he did. Because of his personality, he probably had more friends than you can count and that allowed him to have a great influence in helping men, especially Black men, understand it is important not to hang in the back but to be up front and be a leader. That was such an important message.”
District Attorney Scott Colom said he met Taylor shortly after finishing law school and returning to Columbus. Taylor put Colom together with people and organizations in Starkville to help him get started as an attorney.
“He was just one of the best humans you could ever meet,” Colom said. “He was involved in so many things, always helping and never once asking for anything in return.”
Family man, world traveler
Taylor was also a devoted father and an adoring grandfather.
“He demonstrated how to live life at a high level, with fun and travel and family, a balanced life,” Cheikh Taylor said. “He had his grandchildren every summer and he really loved having that time with them.”
Another of Taylor’s passions was travel. Before joining the Army, he had rarely traveled outside of Oktibbeha County. His time in the Army provided him opportunities to visit all over the world, His passion for travel continued after leaving the service. In fact, he had returned from a trip to Miami Beach a few days before his passing.
Colom said his feelings after Taylor’s passing are bittersweet.
“On one hand, Starville just won’t be the same knowing I’ll never run into him at different places around town,” Colom said. “At the same time, what a legacy he left. He loved so many things and he loved people, and people knew it. If there was an election for the most popular person in Starkville, he’d win it every time. What he was doing is showing us how a life should be lived. It’s how we all should live.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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