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Family and friends provided a much-appreciated
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MAINEVILLE - Gregg Taylor never met a stranger.
"Very friendly. There never was a day that went by that he didn't
say how blessed we were," said his wife, Judy Lambert of
Maineville.
His top-secret job in the Air Force was with the Security
Service, where he was involved with communications technology,
analyzing other countries' military communication.
He once went to a Bob Dylan concert with friends in Florida, and
ended up staying for months. He traveled the U.S. with singer Willie
Nelson and country music group Alabama as a rigger, lighting and
sound technician, before working on a shrimp boat in the Gulf of
Mexico for eight months.
He did a lot of things in his life, but said in a song he wrote
and recorded for his daughters that children are the only thing you
truly leave behind.
"He lit up every room he ever entered with joy and laughter and
love," said his longtime friend, J. Bruce Suits.
After 14 months suffering from a brain tumor, he died Feb. 5 at
Hospice of Cincinnati, Blue Ash. He was 58.
Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Mr. Taylor entered the Air Force
after high school and toured the Philippines and Japan, played
guitar in rock bands, and was honorably discharged at the rank of
sergeant in April 1972.
Mr. Taylor attended Eastern Kentucky University for two years and
earned an associate's degree from a branch campus of the University
of Kentucky near Ashland.
After his brief stay in Florida, Mr. Taylor moved to
Catlettsburg, Ky., in 1974. He worked as a machinist and co-owned a
ski shop in nearby Lakewood Village at a newly opened ski resort
before going on tour with Nelson and Alabama.
"He once played (offstage) with guitar great Chet Atkins," Suits
said.
Mr. Taylor came to live in Cincinnati with Suits and began
working as a salesman. Around 1985, he took a job with ITA Audio
Visual Solutions and helped build up the company as vice president
of hotel services.
"He was a dynamic salesman and personality," Suits said.
Mr. Taylor traveled the East Coast on business three days a
week.
"He kind of referred to himself as a modern-day cowboy," his wife
said. "He got to get on the road every week and go. He had friends
in every city they went."
She said his personality was full of strength and optimism.
"He fought (the brain tumor) for so long, he never wanted to give
in to it. He fought it with dignity, always positive," his wife
said.
He is also survived by daughters, Amanda Taylor of Blue Ash,
Sarah Crockett of Goshen and Naomi Wears of Milford; sons, Alex
Creech of Maineville, Nathan and Nicholas Creech of Loveland and
Zachary Wears of Loveland; brothers, Ric Taylor of Chicago, Scott
Taylor of Zwingle, Iowa; and sister, Laurie Bryant of Seattle.
Services have been held.
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