‘You will never walk alone’ - Crash victim Errol Taylor gets cheerful send-off

Kermith Lawrence wondered aloud how his brother, Errol Taylor, despite his smarts, found it possible to support Liverpool Football Club.

After all, Lawrence supports Chelsea Football Club, and would not contemplate touching the red of Liverpool. However, Thursday was an exception. Liverpool’s motto was appropriate for the moment. ‘You will never walk alone,’ Lawrence recited as he gently laid a Liverpool scarf on the chocolate-coloured coffin bearing Taylor’s remains at his funeral held at the Hagley Park Seventh-day Adventist Church in St Andrew.

He said that it was almost sacrilegious to touch Liverpool memorabilia, and admitted that he briefly flirted with the idea of supporting ‘the Reds’ in honour of his brother, but he quickly came to his senses and decided against it.

“My brother was all that and much more,” said Lawrence in a riveting and engaging tribute.

The 61-year-old Taylor was one of three persons who died in a horrific two-vehicle crash in Albion, St Thomas, on April 24. Speaker after speaker remembered him as a math genius, a lover of people and a silent giant. He enjoyed football and considered himself a sound defender, and enjoyed being a horse racing punter.

Born to Nora Service and Lynval Taylor on June 12, 1961, Taylor grew up in Mongrave, a small district near Bog Walk in St Catherine.

Among persons delivering tributes was renowned percussionist Bongo Herman. He described Taylor as a clean-hearted man with a brilliant mind. He said he could have been the minister of finance.

The musician led mourners through a lively session of praise, remixing songs such as I Shall Wear a Crown and My Home is in Heaven, making Taylor the subject of the chorus. Another stirring musical tribute came from Daniel John Jackson, who raised the roof of the church with his rendition of To God Be The Glory.

Noel Morgan, who attended Kingston Technical High School with Taylor, shared how his life was transformed because of his friend’s intervention. Morgan, who was deputy head boy at the time, was acing all subjects except mathematics, in which he was getting below par grades. The mathematics teacher, incensed by Morgan’s seeming inability to understand the subject, chased him out of class.

Taylor, he said, took him on as a project and taught him mathematics. It was a move that paid dividends. Morgan got an A in GCE and a grade 2 in CXC.

Winsome, the eldest of Taylor’s two sisters, found it hard to pen a tribute. In the bit that she managed to write, she said that he paced himself as he went about his business and dedicated his love and kindness through his selfless deeds.

She said that he was never in a rush, always pacing himself when he walked, which is in stark contrast to the way his fruitful life was brought to a premature end due to the actions of speeding drivers.

Taylor, an accountant, is survived by his mother, Nora; daughters Tiffany and Jodi-Ann, son, Andre, sisters Winsome and Terry-Ann, brothers Delroy, Michael, Carbeth and Kermith, and other relatives and friends.