Jake Taylor
November 29, 1980 - September 8, 2000

Jake was born in Niagara Falls, NY to Linda and James Taylor. He has three older brothers (Jim, Terry and Dave) and two older sisters (Sherry and Chrissy). He was diagnosed at the age of 8 months with retinoblastoma, a cancer in the eyes. His left eye was removed, and radiation therapy seriously damaged the right, causing him to slowly lose his sight altogether. He didn't consider being blind a disability, and he never let it stop him from doing what he wanted.

He was playful and imaginative, talented and independent, sensitive and caring. He would be the first to jump up and fight any injustice or wrongdoing to the people he cared about. In high school, he was often the listening counselor, the shoulder, for his female friends, but still had enough immaturity in him to get totally goofy with his guy friends. He liked sci-fi and fantasy, his favorites being Star Trek: TNG and R.A. Salvatore novels. He enjoyed cooking, science, and was very gifted with computers, and considered each of those as possible career choices.

But music was his passion. He played drums for about ten years and guitar for about five. He felt it was one of the few things he could truly do on his own, and so he excelled in it. When Goo Goo Dolls singer/guitarist Johnny Rzeznik donated a handful of Gibson Epiphone acoustic guitars to the school systems of western NY, unsigned, saying give them to students who are truly interested in music, Jake's band teacher made sure he got one. He held a summer job at the Niagara Falls Public Library, and with his first paycheck bought himself a black Fender Squire Stratocaster, and later a five disk cd player. Anything he heard on the radio that he liked he'd learn how to play. He said he once learned a song in about five minutes that took his brother Jimmy hours to learn. In NY, he tried many times to start a band, but could never find the dedicated musicians he needed. When he moved with his family to Georgetown, SC, he found a small music store hiding inside Wal-Mart, and met Allen, who said his band was looking for a lead guitarist. Allen had a demo tape playing, and Jake sat and listened for a while. The next time he went to the store he picked up a guitar and played a couple of lead lines for those songs. They were very impressed, and Jake became the lead guitarist and backup vocalist of Ten Years Gone.

The doctors in NY told his family that he would be prone to other cancers in his life. In July, 2000, he was diagnosed with sarcoma in his left eye socket. It spread very quickly and viciously, causing him a great deal of pain. On Sept. 7, he dozed off, and couldn't be woken up, and late on the 8th he passed from this world, with his family around him and the band nearby. He was laid to rest in Georgetown next to his mother's mother. He leaves behind his family, bandmates, fiancée, and scores of close friends. We celebrate his life, knowing he enjoyed every second of it, but we will miss him greatly.

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