Posted on 08/14/2002 4:37:43 PM PDT by ResistorSister
JuWanna Taylor, widow of slain Massillon Patrolman Eric B. Taylor, is finding the strength to cope from the most precious gifts her husband gave her: their two young children.
``My children are what have kept me going,'' Taylor said Tuesday at the family's home in Massillon. ``You have to put you on the back burner. They need their mother.''
Taylor, 31, said she has tried to keep her children, Ty, 2, and Lauren, 1, as close to their regular daily schedules as possible since her husband was shot and killed Friday night while on duty. Eric Taylor, 31, joined the Massillon department in 1998.
``He's usually here,'' she said. ``Now, Mom's here instead of Dad. I've just tried to keep them in as much of a routine as possible.''
The routine for the household saw Tuesdays as Dad's day with the children, Taylor said.
``He let me have a day to myself. He was an excellent father.''
As the days go by, Taylor said, coping with her husband's death is becoming more difficult.
``When everything happened (on Friday), I just went numb. And since then, there has always been somebody here... This is the first time I've kind of been by myself,'' she said. ``The numbness is starting to wear off.''
Whether it was playing with the children or doing household chores, Taylor said her husband always took care of his family.
``There are not many men out there like that,'' she said, ``but my husband was. He cooked, he cleaned, he changed diapers. He did everything... We raised our children together.''
Taylor said she also has found comfort in the many friends and family members who have been by her side.
``We're just staying here and making sure she's OK,'' said JuMekia Jones, JuWanna Taylor's sister. Jones, 24, arrived from California on Saturday.
The first time Taylor saw her future husband, she knew he was someone special.
``I said to my friend, `Ooh, that's a cute guy,' '' Taylor said, remembering when they met in 1994. Her friend happened to know Eric and called him over.
``We exchanged phone numbers that night,'' Taylor said. ``On the way home, I told my friend, `He's going to be my husband.' ''
Five years later, he was.
Her husband's line of work was a worry for Taylor in the past.
``Lately, I didn't worry much at all,'' she said. ``I just thought this (Massillon) was a safe place to work.''
When one of Eric Taylor's fellow officers pulled into the family's driveway Friday night to inform JuWanna her husband had been shot, she thought it was her husband coming home, she said.
``My husband would check on us a lot,'' she said.
Even when the officer rang the doorbell, she still didn't think anything of it, she said.
``I just thought he forgot his key at work,'' she said. ``I just opened the door and walked away from it.''
When the officer told her that her husband had been shot, Taylor said she ``freaked out.''
``I froze,'' she said. ``I said, `I've got to get my babies.' ''
Taylor said Massillon police officers have shared information surrounding her husband's death so she can know as much as possible.
``He engaged the suspect, not knowing he was armed,'' she said officers told her.
Taylor said officers told her that her husband tried to exit his car through the passenger-side door when Donald W. Matthews, 61, of Jackson Township fired.
``The car was still in drive and kept rolling, but he managed to escape from the car,'' she said.
When the gunfire ceased, Eric Taylor, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, had been fatally shot. Matthews also had been shot dead.
While her husband always had a way of making others smile, Taylor said it was tough to get him to grin for a camera.
``He wasn't big on taking pictures,'' she said, laughing. Taylor said she had to ``basically beg'' her husband to sit for a family photo about six months ago.
``I am so glad I did that,'' she said.
Taylor said she has been overwhelmed by the community's outpouring of support.
``I can't express into words how appreciative I am and how it feels to know that he has gotten a response like this,'' she said.
Calling hours will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Stewart & Calhoun funeral home, 529 W. Thornton St. in Akron. There also will be calling hours from 9 to 11 a.m. Friday at the House of the Lord, 1650 Diagonal Road in Akron. The funeral service will begin at 11 a.m.
Following the ceremony, Eric Taylor will be buried at Mount Peace Cemetery, 183 Aqueduct St. in Akron.
JuWanna Taylor said the services may bring ``a small amount of closure.''
``But also then it's the beginning of a life without him,'' she said. ``That's going to be the toughest.''
Yeah, he did.
My husband and I are sickened by that fact too. It's Horrible!
Perhaps a chance meeting would be nice.
Ah. You mean like the Founders.
It always remains on the table. And nothing you do can remove that God-given right.
Nice try though.
Lovely. Who are the Stalinists here?
Don't try to smear the Founders with the mindset of these militia wacko cowards. We are not ruled by a foreign occupation army, and Henry David Thoreau did not write a pamphlet entitled "Civil Insurrection".
Congratulations. You just made the nut list.
Yeah, the constitution is real wacky. /sarcasm
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