I don't remember when I met her. I know it was during my childhood that Sarah Taylor moved with her family to my hometown, and they began worshipping with us. Her children - Karen, Kathy, and Hal - were a little older than me, but they became my friends. And the remainder of my childhood, through adolescence and into adulthood, the Taylor family became a special part of my life.Bro. Taylor served our congregation as an elder, and the whole Taylor family had a deep love and reverence for God. I remember as a very young girl observing their family - their love for each other, and their love for God - and thinking to myself, "THAT'S how I want MY Family to be someday."
I was always impressed with Sis. Taylor's knowledge of the Bible. She KNEW the word, and knew it well. Her Bible was well-worn, and you could see her hand-written notes in the margins. I remember the few occasions I had to sit in her Ladies' Bible class, and I still remember things she taught there. But more than that, I remember the personal instruction I was blessed to receive from her. She not only knew her Bible, but she was passionate about her love for and service to the Lord - perhaps more than any other lady I have ever known. She was continually working to uplift, encourage, teach, and save the lost. She saw everyone she encountered as a prospect for the gospel. Every single time I read Titus 1:3-5, which states, ""Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled," I think of Sis. Taylor - she was the embodiment of that passage - that's who she was, and that's what she did.
The Taylor's son, Hal, was one of my closest friends in high school. He went to Texas A&M, and had a roommate there named Jeff. Long story, short - for the past 28 years I have lived as Jeff's wife. And I have the Taylors to thank for that, in large part - without that connection, I probably would've never met Jeff Stewart.
While we were dating, Jeff would travel from College Station and Dallas to Longview most weekends. A lot of those weekends, he stayed in the Taylor's home. It was always a treat to spend time with them on those weekends. And my favorite thing about that was the Monday after those weekends, when I would go by the Taylor's house to return their house key from Jeff. Usually, it was just Sis. Taylor at home, she would invite me in, and we would visit. I particularly remember the Monday after Jeff proposed - she had a lot to say to me that Monday. Wise words about marriage, being a wife, and making a home. She gave me a stack of books to read - all biblically based - and talked to me about those books when I had finished reading them. Because of Sis. Taylor, Jeff and I transitioned quite easily into marriage.
When the girls were born, we decided early on that the first born would be named Sarah - after our beloved Sarah Taylor. We had a couple of reasons for that - for one thing, the Taylor family was largely responsible for the fact that we were a family at all. But more than that, I could think of no one better for my daughters to emulate than the godly lady who had that name. At the time of the girls' birth, the Taylors had moved to Florida. But they came by to visit one day when they were back in Texas when the girls were about nine months old, and Sarah got to meet Sarah. 
I always wished that our Sarah could really know the great lady she was named after, but we made sure as she grew up that our Sarah at least knew the legacy behind her name. We had a few occasions to be in Florida when our Sarah was older - the first time when she was about 15, and then again when she was 17. Both times, we made it a point to travel to Tampa to visit the Taylors, and so that the Sarahs could spend a little time together. One of those trips was a family vacation to Disney World. And I remember that to ME, the very best day of that vacation was not Magic Kingdom, or EPCOT, or even the beach. It was the day we spent with the Taylors.I could fill many pages with my memories of Sis. Taylor and her family. Like how she was our go-to person for anything medical (she was an RN), and once saved me from the horrors of a hornet sting, as well as doctored my laryngitis on my wedding day. Or the time a group of us young folks showed up at their house after having a flat tire in their Cadillac that their son was driving - that's a story in itself! Not only was she a spiritual guide for me, but she was a very spunky and funny lady. She loved to laugh, and loved to love and enjoy others.
Sarah Taylor passed from this life yesterday. And even though I had not seen her in the past eight or so years, and our relationship was limited to correspondence, I felt an emptiness when I heard she was gone. Sis. Taylor was special to me, and to my family. I know she was special to many others as well, and her influence and the good that will live on after her cannot be measured. It lives on in the things she taught me, both by her example and her words. It lives on in her children and grandchildren. And it lives on in a young lady who wears her name - a Sarah who is now a young wife and mother, who knows the legacy behind her name, and honors that name in the way she is living and serving God.
John wrote in Revelation 14:13, "And I heard a voice from heaven saying, 'Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' 'Blessed indeed,' says the Spirit, 'that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!'” Yes, blessed indeed is Sarah Taylor. And blessed am I to have known her, and to have been loved by her.
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