Brent Taylor was a man who makes you realize what it means to serve.
Taylor served as mayor of North Ogden, Utah and was the kind of person interim mayor Brent Chugg told NPR’s Rachel Martin who “made you feel good to be around.”
On November 3rd Major Brent Taylor, serving on his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan with the National Guard, died from “green on green” attack by an Afghani infiltrator. He was 39 and left behind a wife and seven children ranging from 11 months to 13 years old.
Utah Governor Gary Herbert knew Taylor personally and said he had advised him not to do a fourth tour. “You’ve done enough. You’ve done your part.” Taylor insisted, however, says Governor Herbert. “He thought he could do some good, to help people be liberated. That’s an admirable quality that we call ought to emulate.”
That kind of service was evident in his leadership. “He was an outstanding mayor,” says Chugg. “He was very progressive. He moved this city forward in a very positive way.” Taylor was not a partisan. “He wasn’t a politician he was a statesman. He was kind to everyone. You felt good in his presence. He always had a smile on his face. He remembered your name. He was very personable.”
That style endeared Taylor to the citizens of North Ogden who re-elected him as mayor as well as to city employees to whom he “showed love and respect.” Chugg adds, “I will miss his friendship. He was a truly a great friend someone you loved and respected and could trust. Made you feel welcome where ever you were.”
Brent Taylor personifies something that Frances Hesselbein, former CEO of the Girl Scouts and colleague of Peter Drucker, believes: “to serve is to live.” Taylor exemplified that mantra whether he was at home in North Ogden or with the people of Afghanistan. His calling was the service to others. In his remembrance of Taylor, Governor Herbert posed the question that anyone in leadership should ask: “What can we do to help our fellow man?”
In an era when public service may not be as respected as it once was, Brent Taylor reminds us that working for a cause greater than yourself – be it in uniform or in your community – comes down to working to make things better for people. And Taylor did it gladly with an open heart, a kind word and ready smile.
Service to the community as an elected official is not about winning nor losing elections. It is about making things better for citizens individually and collectively. It requires participation.
“As the USA gets ready to vote in our own election next week, I hope everyone back home exercises their precious right to vote,” Taylor wrote in what turned out to be his final post on Facebook. “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. ‘United we stand, divided we fall.’ God Bless America.”
