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Oxford Eagle, February 25, 1998

Memorial Service Draws Hundreds To Oxford
Media, coaches, and fellow skaters pack church

Loretta Winston
STAFF WRITER

Hundreds of people packed the First Baptist Church and its grounds on Van Buren Avenue in Oxford Wednesday afternoon for the memorial service for Dale and Crystal Taylor.

Officials stated it was one of the largest funerals they had ever seen, comparable only to the funeral of John Carl Snyder, the famous University of Mississippi football star who later served in the U.S. Senate for eight terms and was buried in Oxford in July of 1991.

Traffic at that funeral was so heavy that the city closed down a section of the downtown area to help accommodate the hundreds of cars. Like Snyder's funeral, the Taylor service drew hundreds from around the country, and city officials were forced to close three streets surrounding the church.

Inside the church, a sea of flowers covered the podium, the nave and stretched down both aisles. It would seem from such a turnout that the Taylors truly were the ìdarlings" of the American ice skating program. Even President Bill Clinton, with all of his worries at the present time, found a moment to send a wreath to the church with a letter for Jim and Sandy Taylor.

News media, including camera crews from Dateline NBC, 20/20, and Inside Edition, all camped outside the church before and after the funeral, but out of respect for the family, did not try to enter the church.

The church, which seats three hundred, was filled an hour before the 2 p.m. service. Police kept the overflow of people on the side church yard during the service, where they stood in silence or talked quietly among themselves.

The Taylors, who were members of First Baptist Church and active in the youth program, were buried in identical bronze coffins. They were also, their father Jim Taylor said, buried wearing ice skates.

Taylor gave a short speech about his children while fighting back tears, in which he talked of "their relentless desire to be the best in the world", and how their fire rejuvenated his own life and that of his wife Sandy and their other son Shane. Dr. Tommy Shands, the minister of First Baptist, delivered a moving eulogy for the Taylors that spoke of their strong Christian faith and belief.

In addition to various media, a number of Olympic skaters attended the service. Among those attending were Scott Hamilton, Michele Kwan, Jessica Joseph and Charles Butler. Joseph and Butler, also ice dancers, had both worked and competed with the Taylors in the past. They expressed the feelings of many in the skating world saying that a great a beautiful talent had been lost.

The Taylors were buried in the family plot at First Baptist. The family requests that any memorials be made to the First Baptist Church youth program.