Above:  George W. Barrett Documents I Retrieved Recently

Photograph Dated December 31, 2013

Image Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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This month, during a visit to Americus, Georgia, I retrieved a number of documents and photographs, many of which I will use to update this weblog.  There were more George W. Barrett sermon outlines, most of which I can date to 1938-1942 because of a certain document.

Photograph Dated December 31, 2013

Image Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

I can even name the congregation–Underwood Memorial Methodist Church, Atlanta, Georgia (now Tenth Street Underwood Memorial United Methodist Church)–from which my great-grandfather retired from active ministry in November 1945.  There are some other sermon outlines on pages which someone removed from a journal back in the  mists of time.  Unfortunately, most of those other journal pages are almost certainly lost, and I have some partial outlines.

I do not have page 188.

Photograph Dated December 31, 2013

Image Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

I also have some old photographs, many of which are in excellent condition.  Others, however, have faded, unfortunately.  But I will do my best to take care of them.  And I will, of course, share images of them here.

This journey through family history is really quite interesting!

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 31, 2013 COMMON ERA

Above:  The Second Draft of the Poem

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Birds alight

in the light and in shadows

to gather in a backyard

to dine on a mass

of birdseed on Christmas Eve.

I watch them through glass

and enjoy the sight

of avian grazing

so close yet

at a proper distance.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 24, 2013 COMMON ERA

Photograph Courtesy of Randolph Fleming Taylor

The dating of this image is uncertain, but 1915-1917 is probable.  In the middle, holding the dog, is my grandfather, John D. Taylor, Jr. (1905-1976).  To his right is his sister, Helen (died 1977), who moved away to Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1924.  To my grandfather’s left is Johnny Sandford, who worked for Eugene Stoddard Taylor, Sr. (1890-1944), my grandfather’s uncle, and Eugene’s wife, Adeline Wright Taylor (born circa 1892), who lived in the house on the plot to the immediate left.

Of particular interest in the photograph is the front of old north wing of the house, visible in the background.  My grandfather had that wing removed in the early 1960s.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 14, 2013 COMMON ERA

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Updated on December 31, 2013, with information which my Uncle Randy supplied

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Above:  The Original Text

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AUTHOR’S COMMENT:

I looked up at the sky tonight and thought of “islands of night sky.”  So I wrote the prompt down and let it develop into a concise form.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 11, 2013 COMMON ERA

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Islands of night sky

populate the ocean of clouds

above my head

on a cold night.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 11, 2013 COMMON ERA

Above:  Jean

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Family history is a goldmine of stories one should never pass into the ether of things forgotten and lost forever.  That premise is one rationale for this weblog.  Today, acting on that rationale, I share information about a dog who saved my father’s life when he was a boy.  I have attempted to get the details correct, given conflicting memories.  Human memory is not like a video recorder, brain scientists tell us.

My grandfather, John D. Taylor, Jr., kept collies for a few years.  One of these was Jean, who appeared in a Lassie movie–either Lassie Come Home (1943) or Courage of Lassie (1946).  My grandfather had purchased her from the kennel of Rudd Weatherwax, who trained dogs for movies and television shows, including the Lassie films and series.  I have heard stories of the family going to an airport to pick up Jean, who was returning from Hollywood, and of the family watching the Lassie movie with Jean in it as my grandmother, Nell Barrett Taylor, pointed out Jean’s scenes.

Jean was a sweet dog.  My father (John D. Taylor, III) and uncle (Randy) rested their heads peacefully upon her on parts of Summer days spent on the veranda at the family house.  She was, simply put, a good dog and a wonderful friend and companion to them.

In 1947 or 1948, when my father was four or five years old and my uncle was two or three years old, Jean protected my father from a taxi cab in front of the house.  She recovered from her injuries, fortunately.  The National Humane Society awarded her a medal for saving the life of a boy.  (I wonder that medal is.)

Jean died, having been put to sleep, no later than 1953.  Yet my debt of gratitude to her remains, for, without her intervention, I would not exist.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 11, 2013 COMMON ERA

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Here are some more pictures, courtesy of my uncle Randy:

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Here is a photograph of Jean with my grandmother, Nell Barrett Taylor, and my uncle Randy (born in 1945).

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And here is a photograph of my father, John D. Taylor, III (born in 1943) and my uncle Randy (born in 1945) with Ginger the Collie.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 1, 2014 COMMON ERA

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Photograph Courtesy of Randolph Fleming Taylor

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My grandmother, Nell Barrett Taylor, lived from 1915 to 2001.  Here she stands behind the old family house in Summerville, Georgia, the kitchen to her right and the garage visible behind her.  My uncle Randy recalls that the last time anyone parked a car in that garage was 1962.  He also remembers the automotive maneuvers required to get a car in and out of the garage.

As for me, the closest thing to a garage of car port I recall being used for is the car shelter at the kitchen door.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 8, 2013 COMMON ERA

Amended January 18, 2014 Common Era

Above:  Chalfont Drive, Athens, Georgia, December 8, 2013

Image Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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On a cold, wet, and gray day,

after having attended church and

consumed the body and blood of Christ,

there did commence, I am glad to say,

a quiet, studious time, one easy to stand,

but indoors, which, I do surmise,

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was proper, given the weather.

It was a time to study and to grade,

as well as to make family history

inquiries.  These quiet behaviors

near lamps were for today made,

given the outdoor cold, wet, gray misery.

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It was an indoor kind of day

on which to do little–and that

at a leisurely pace–and to consume

caffeine and well-lit to stay,

for such weather affects me bad-

ly; outside felt like doom.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 8, 2013 COMMON ERA

Above:  The Beginning of the Draft of This Poem

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On a December morning,

I pull into the parking lot

of an auto parts store,

in search of ice scrapers.

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Inevitable is my noticing,

next to that spot,

where, for a month in 2010, I did score

high school graduation papers.

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It was a brief employment fling,

something which I got

to supplement my teaching pay, for

I thought I’d like to grade more papers.

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Instead, I wound up learning

that the part-time job did not

satisfy me, and even bothered me sore-

ly; the task I came to curse.

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It seems that my scoring

proved too strict.  I got

no invitation for an encore,

for my standards I did not reverse.

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That ended three years and a month

ago, and I am still in town.

When I was a child, seldom did I remain

anywhere longer than three years,

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so my tenure in Athens doth stunneth

me; I smile, not frown.

Moving so often was a great pain,

one which engendered terrible fears

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within me.  My blessings of stability runneth

over; I welcome familiar sights and sounds

from three or more years past.  The main

thing is that they are around here.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 3, 2013 COMMON ERA

Above:  Chalfont Drive, Athens-Clarke County, December 3, 2013

Image Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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On a late afternoon

in early December,

rain falls, uttering

“pitter, patter,”

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hoping, perhaps, that I will swoon

and not, as I collect the mail, shiver,

in the wet and the temperatures cooling,

then return home, water splatter-

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ing until, quite soon,

my home I re-enter,

mail delivering

into dry shelter.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 3, 2013 COMMON ERA