News, Citizen Profile, Willie Ezell Taylor, LaSalle Parish, La. ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Submitted by: Craig Franklin of The Jena Times, Jena, LaSalle Parish, La. Willie Ezell Taylor - Citizen Profile Wednesday, December 13, 2000, page 6B A Times-Signal Feature "Citizen Profile" A Very Special Salute This man has touched many lives during his 91 years This week's Citizen Profile is known and recognized all around the Jena area, although he admits this is the first time he's ever been in the newspaper. Mr. Willie Ezell Taylor has lived in LaSalle Parish most of his life, and at 91 years of age, he is still sharp as a tack. Despite a crippling stroke sometime back which has made him move to the Golden Age Nursing Center, Mr. Taylor can vividly remember things from his childhood and beyond and recount events from the past better than most men more than half his age. "I know a lot of people and a lot of the old politicians," he said. "But I don't guess I've ever been in the paper, so if you sell a bunch of them, call me back and I'll help you out again." As you can tell, one of Mr. Taylor's greatest attributes is his sense of humor. Whether he's telling of his many jobs as a young man or about his most recognizable job at Hixson Funeral Home, Mr. Taylor always has a humorous story to share. He was born on September 30, 1909, in LaSalle Parish, or back then, Catahoula Parish. His family lived around the Jena area for the first few years of his life before hitching up the covered wagon and traveling throughout Louisiana renting farms and working the land. Mr. Taylor's father, Al G. Taylor, was a farmer during those times and his mother, Mattie Crooks Taylor, stayed at home and tended to all the household duties, including raising Mr. Taylor and his two brothers and two sisters. Later on in his father's life, Mr. Taylor said his daddy stopped farming for a living and took on other jobs, including being a deputy sheriff. But while he was farming, the Taylor family was constantly on the move. After leaving Jena when Mr. Taylor was but a young child, the family lived in many areas such as LeCompte, Alexandria, Bunkie and Cheneyville, just to name a few. He said his family kept moving into rent homes and rented farm land with it, to make a crop where they could. The moving continued until ultimately they found themselves back in LaSalle Parish. "When I was around 8 or 10 years old, we bought a 40 acre farm in Belah and that's where I finished growing up at," Mr. Taylor said. "I actually started school in LeCompte, but I got most of my education at Fellowship and Jena. I went until the eighth grade, and then I went to work." Although he jokingly said he'd learned all he needed to know, the reality is that during that time, most young men when they got old enough to work, abandoned school to help their family's earn money to make a living. "It really was a different world back then," he said. "And I mean everything was different. I don't know of anything that's the same as it was back then." Mr. Taylor's first job as a young teenager came when a portable sawmill moved into the Jena area and the owner was looking for a saw hand to help on the log line. "This man from Alexandria moved this portable sawmill in where Hayes Lumber Company is now and I went down there to ask for a job," he said. "The man looked at me - I was a little scrawny fellow, and asked me if I thought I could handle the hard work. I told him I was looking for a job and I'd do whatever he wanted. So he hired me." He noted that the job was hard work but he held his own until a better job with more pay came his way. "I was in the drug store and Frank Davidson, whose brother owned the drug store, asked me to go to work for him in the drug store working the fountain," Mr. Taylor said. "So I did and worked there for a couple of years." By this time, Mr. Taylor was making quite a reputation for himself around Jena as a young man who had a way with dealing with people and was a hard worker as well. It was a combination that would benefit him later in life, with his job at the funeral home. After leaving the drug store, he went to work at Ed Benson's Hardware Store in Jena, where he waited on customers. Eventually, Mr. Benson sold out and moved to Marshall, Texas. During this time, Mr. Taylor had been living with the Benson's and had become extremely close to that family. "He (Mr. Benson) told me I was more like his brother so whenever he moved he asked me to move to Texas with him," Mr. Taylor said. "In Marshall, I worked at a Piggly Wiggly store on the edge of town for a while, and then they moved me to the main store downtown Marshall. I did checking there for a couple of years." Soon after this, Mr. Taylor's brother, who was living in Monroe running a service station, called him and asked him to move to Monroe to help him run his station. "He was a good mechanic, but didn't have time to run the front and do the mechanic work in the back," he said. "So I moved to Monroe and took care of the front while he worked in back." After a time working with his brother, Mr. Taylor took a job with the state highway department and worked with them for four years, before getting a job in Jena at Brutan Butane. He served as the manager of the office, keeping records for the one service truck the company started out with. "We had one truck for about two years and then we got a third truck," he said. "Then the company decided to service the Jonesville area, so another truck was added, and then another. We ended up with five trucks running routes and I had to keep tabs on all of them." He ran the business for 14 years and is proud of the fact that during that time, he never missed one day due to sickness. During the years prior to his retirement from the butane business, Jena had a new funeral home in operation. For years Jena had been served solely by Kinner and Stevens Funeral Home. However in 1945, Hixon Brothers Funeral Home opened an office in Jena in the building which now houses the Jena Times office. The business was started by brothers E.W. Hixon, Sr. and Jerry Hixon, but by 1971, E.W. Hixon, Jr. was in charge of the family funeral home business. It was E.W. Jr. that hired Mr. Taylor to go to work at the funeral home in 1971. To Mr. Taylor, there was no one finer than Mr. Hixon. "He really was a fine old man," he said. "I loved him and he was real good to me. Of course Ronnie Jordan was the same way. I really enjoyed my years at the funeral home." Jordan, who is now manager of the funeral home, echoed the same sentiments about Mr. Taylor also. "I worked with him for over twenty years and we both worked well together and became real close," Jordan said. "The last ten years he worked here it was hard because he couldn't see or hear well, but he was always working. Remember, he started to work here after he'd already retired and then put in over twenty years." He and I have buried a lot of people together." Because of the nature of their business, the majority of time the men were very sensitive to the sadness of family and loved one's deaths. Due to the solemness of the job though, the men sometimes released the tension by joking with one another and even playing practical jokes on one another. Of course, this only occurred when on one was laying in estate at the home. Jordan remembers that Mr. Taylor was the king when it came to playing practical jokes. "A lot of people may not know this, but he is perhaps the only one left in this country who can play the musical saw," Jordan said. "And he's really good at it. He's even played at his church, First Baptist before." One of the funnier practical jokes Mr. Taylor played on someone came one night at the funeral home and involved him playing the musical saw. According to Jordan, a new man was working at the home and the he and Taylor decided to break him in. So Mr. Taylor hid in a room in the home and started playing the musical saw, which could make a very errie sound. When the new man came by and heard the sound, Jordan said he ran out of the funeral home as fast as he could and didn't stop until he reached Highway 84. "It was one of the funniest things I've seen," Jordan said. "He was always pulling pranks and making everyone laugh." Working at Hixson is where most people in Jena remember Mr. Taylor from. During his years there he was mainly in charge of the pallbearers at funerals. Many people came to love and respect him for the sensitive way he dealt with them during the hardest times in their lives . . . the loss of a loved one. Because Mr. Taylor is a "people person", he really enjoyed his work at the home, and especially working with the men he did. He said that E.W. Jr. reminded him of another man he'd knew years ago, who were both genuine and caring men. From 1942-1945, Mr. Taylor was in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was stationed in the far east and saw action in the countries of New Guinea, the Philippines, Manila, and was getting ready for another invasion in Manila when the war ended. While in Manila, he was under General Walter Kruger, who was General McArthur's right hand man. He was serving with a security division who was in charge of protecting General Kruger when he made inspections of the troops. "To me, there was never a better man than General Kruger," Mr. Taylor said. "When I met Mr. Hixon, he reminded me of him." "We were ordered to keep him (the general) away from the firing line, but he wanted to be close to the front and the action," he said. "It was hard to keep him away." Mr. Taylor remembered one time while escorting the general around, that they became under heavy enemy fire. "One time, so many bullets were flying down that it actually looked like it was raining and we had the general get into a pit that was dug for his safety," he said. "Well, he looked up from inside that pit and told us to come down and get in there with him. He said that if it was our time to go then we'd all go together." When Mr. Taylor was 22 years old, he married Lillie Richardson. He called her the most sweetest and prettiest lady he'd ever known and loved her dearly. The couple had one daughter together who now lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. After several years of marriage though, Mrs. Lillie developed cancer and after three years of intense treatments, she passed away. Three years later, Mr. Taylor married again, to Aline Dozier. Mrs. Aline and Mrs. Lillie were very close friends as the families lived next door to each other. Mrs. Aline's husband had died earlier, and because Mr. Taylor and Mrs. Aline were already very close, the marriage seemed to match perfectly. Tragedy struck Mr. Taylor again though, when Mrs. Aline was diagnosed with an incurable disease of which she eventually died from as well. "I've actually been awful fortunate in my life," he said. "I've had a lot of friends and up until this stroke, I've had extremely good health." In fact, Mr. Taylor lived by himself up until he had his stroke, living in the same house he originally bought with his first wife over 60 years ago. "I bought that house and three acres for $1,000 and stayed there for 67 years, until I inherited this place (Golden Age Nursing Home)," he said. "But you know, I really can't complain. I mean, all I have to do is look around and I see many people who are worse off than me. God really has been good to me." Speaking of the Lord, Mr. Taylor was saved when he was 15 years old and immediately joined First Baptist Church in Jena, where his membership has been ever since. He remembers the days when First Baptist was only a wooden building, with wooden pews made from old boards, with lanterns hanging to provide light. He was also a member of two quartets at the same time, where he sang the high tenor part. "One of the quartets was John Berry, W.D. Tullos and his brother Elmo Tullos, and the other was Johnny McCartney, Roy Welch and his brother Norman Welch," Mr. Taylor said. "We sang all over the country in church services, funerals and homecomings. Back then, people didn't know much and they didn't know if we were good or not. If you'd get up there they'd listen to you." Although his health prevents him from attending church as often as he'd like, he says he still goes when he can. "Up until I got down when I had this stroke, I never missed church," he said. Mr. Taylor said he's enjoyed his life and especially the many people he has met and come to love during his life. "I just want to thank the people for having the privilege of meeting them and loving them," he said. "I really have been fortunate in my life and God has really blessed me." But for many people in Jena and the surrounding area, God has really blessed them by putting in their path one of the finest citizens of LaSalle Parish, Mr. Willie Ezell Taylor. If your ever feeling down and want to be lifted up, take a trip to Golden Age Nursing Center and sit down and visit with Mr. Taylor. You'll leave in better spirits and probably laughing from one of his stories. Oh yes, one more thing though. Watch out for those practical jokes. When you least expect it, he'll catch you with one. Congratulations Mr. Taylor for being selected as our Citizen Profile of the week, and we'll let you know how the paper sells go. (Caption under photo) MR. WILLIE EZELL TAYLOR is known all over LaSalle Parish for his job at Hixson Brothers Funeral Home, where he worked for 22 years. What you may not know about him though, is that he is a born joker and loves to make people laugh. His stories and practical jokes have entertained people all of his life. (See story.)