TRIBUTE TO DARCUS BELONEY TAYLOR

Source: Times Picayune November 13, 1997

Contributed by: N.O.V.A.

Last modified: 14 Jul 2005


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A Quiet Hero For 96 Years November 13, 1997

Darcus Beloney Taylor is the kind of hero you seldom hear about, but she made a 
big difference in her little corner of the world.

Her funeral in Houma Monday morning was more tribute than tribulation and a 
time for remembering.

"If you didn't know her before, you knew her after," granddaughter Cynthia 
Hunt said. "They gave her a grand ceremony."

She died Nov. 5 at 96, but she lives on in three sons, six daughters, 35 
grandchildren, 70 great-grandchildren, 52 great-great-grandchildren and 13 
great-great-great-grandchildren.

I met the Taylor clan in March 1996 when they came home to Houma from all over 
the New Orleans area and beyond in honor of Mrs. Taylor's 95th birthday.

It was a huge celebration that spilled out of the house into a sunny backyard 
rich with the smells of chicken cooking and the sounds of children playing.

The combination birthday party, family reunion and group christening for the 
youngest Taylors was Cynthia's idea.

She wanted to do something special for the grandmother who had raised her, and 
she wanted to show the children what a family is all about.

"I want them to understand sharing and taking care of each other and caring 
about each other," she said.

*** Values at grandma's knee ***

Cynthia learned her values from her grandmother: Love God and value education.

"You knew that Sunday you were going to church and Monday you were going to 
school," she said.

Maybe the reason a good education was so important to Cynthia's grandmother 
was that she and her husband never had an opportunity to get much of one 
themselves.

But they worked. Johnny Taylor Sr. worked for Shell Oil in Houma for 38 years 
and he was a master carpenter. Mrs. Taylor gardened and baked and sewed for 
her family and taught her children what was important in life.

Cynthia never knew that they were poor. When she was a little girl, she had a 
wonderful wardrobe thanks to her grandmother's baking. An empty cloth flour 
sack with a colorful pattern on it always meant a new outfit.

"She would call me in from playing, and I'd take a bath, and by the time I was 
finished, I had a brand new little short set," Cynthia said.

	From family to community

It was more than family at the funeral Monday morning. Friends, community 
leaders and church members showed up at New Mount Zion Baptist Church to pay 
their respects, too.

"It was beautiful," Cynthia said. "A big old church with an upstairs section 
packed to the rafters."

When Mrs. Taylor's husband died in 1992, they had been married for 73 years. 
Together they started the first black Boy Scout Troop in Houma and saw to it 
that the black kids in town had a playground to play on.

They always gave freely of everything they had: good meals, good words, 
helping hands.

Mrs. Taylor had great faith and was active in her church as a Sunday School 
teacher, a member of Eastern Star for 57 years and president of the Senior 
Choir.

Monday afternoon was a time for telling all the old stories, for reminiscing 
and smiling at the memories.

Cynthia has two grandsons of her own now. She tells her son and daughter they 
can keep their great-grandmother's spirit alive by sharing their memories of 
her with their babies. And she intends to see that they do it.

"We were blessed and we know it," she said. "I thank God for the 96 years she 
was here."