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To Honor One of Our Own

By Chris Anne Sanyer posted 11-27-2018 11:14

  
On November 3, Brent Taylor, a Utah Army National Guard major serving in Afghanistan, was on a foot patrol when a member of the Afghan military he was helping train, suddenly turned and shot him. He died immediately. Other Afghan special forces members, in response, immediately killed the shooter. Taylor and his wife, Jennie, are the parents of seven children. He was serving as a member of the Weber-Morgan (Utah) Board of Health and as the mayor of North Ogden, Utah. He was due home in January.
Taylor was a very thoughtful, active member of the board of health. He asked smart questions and took his time on the tough issues to determine what was best for the health district and his constituents in North Ogden. The City Hall in a statement said, “Brent had a profound influence on this community. He was the best of men with the ability to see potential and possibility in everything around him. We feel blessed to have had him as our mayor. Everywhere you look in North Ogden you can see his profound influence.”

In his last Facebook post, Taylor wrote, “It was beautiful to see over 4 million Afghan men and women brave threats and deadly attacks to vote in Afghanistan’s first parliamentary elections in eight years. The strong turnout, despite the attacks and challenges, was a success for the long-suffering people of Afghanistan and for the cause of human freedom. I am proud of the brave Afghan and US soldiers I serve with. Many American, NATO allies, and Afghan troops have died to make moments like this possible…As the USA gets ready to vote in our own election next week, I hope everyone back home exercises their precious right to vote. And that whether the Republicans or the Democrats win, that we all remember that we have far more as Americans that unites us than divides us.”

Fittingly, Taylor’s body arrived back on U.S. soil on Tuesday, Nov. 6. 

Brent Taylor at the St. Louis Cardinals baseball game during a NALBOH conference. He joined us at the NALBOH conferences in St. Louis and Louisville.
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