February 9, 2020 - ChaddsFordLive.com

David Taylor Jr. of Pennsbury Township

It is with the deepest sadness that we announce that David George Taylor, Jr. (Dave) passed away suddenly in the early hours of Wednesday, Feb. 5, in his lifelong hometown of Chadds Ford. He was 21 years old.

Dave was born on Jan. 13, 1999 at Crozer Chester Medical Center to mother Helen Catherine Taylor and father David George Taylor Sr. He grew up in Chadds Ford, and was a loving son, brother, and friend.

From his earliest years, Dave loved cars, trucks, motorcycles, and learning to build and fix things alongside his father. He enjoyed being outside and never wanted to waste even a second of a bright, sunny day. He also loved animals, especially his childhood dog, Rex. As a teenager, he adopted his Labrador mix Diesel, and recently, his golden retriever puppy, Bella. He also took great interest in listening to the sound of coyotes howling in the night and found peace whenever he could be in the mountains.

As a kid, he attended Hillendale Elementary School and Charles F. Patton Middle School. He was a classic rock enthusiast who became quite accomplished with both the electric and acoustic guitar, which he played in talent shows, recitals, and school and community concerts. He was a 2017 graduate of TCHS-Pennock’s Bridge (Auto Service Technology program) and Unionville High School. He scored at the Advanced Level on his Occupational Skill Assessment in the Automobile/Automotive Mechanics Technology/Technician career and technical education program at TCHS and went on to earn his Pennsylvania State Auto Emissions and State Inspection Licenses in 2017 and his Motorcycle Inspection License in 2018.

He was proud to work alongside his father, brother, and uncle at the family business, Taylor’s Service Center, where he was employed since he was 16, and went on to become the best, kindest and most thorough auto/ motorcycle technician anyone has ever known. He most recently became a business partner, and all of his customers loved him, not only for his work, but for his personable demeanor, kindness, and patience.

In his spare time, Dave could almost always be found riding his beloved motorcycles (especially his favorite 2011 GX750 sportbike and 2002 Harley Dyna) fixing up old pickup trucks, and his 1971 Torino GT convertible, and participating in the annual Hagley Museum car show. He often rode his motorcycles and dirt bikes on famous trails, like the Hatfield-McCoy trail system in West Virginia and Kentucky. Dave would most certainly want us to mention his extreme proficiency with riding his motorcycles on solely the rear wheel.

Besides his parents, David is survived by his older sister Juliet Rose and younger brother Nickolaus S Taylor, grandmother Constance; and numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins. He was preceded in death by his paternal grandfather, Frederick H. Taylor Sr.

Dave was an unendingly kind and considerate person, with a beautiful, heart-melting smile, and friends who always talked about how much he prioritized treating other people with respect. If someone was having a hard time, Dave was the type of person who was the first to check in and make sure they were okay. He was also incredibly hilarious and could use his sharp wit and sarcastic humor to make anyone laugh. He was loved by everyone who ever crossed his path and would drop everything to help out someone in need.

If you’re wondering how best to honor Dave’s legacy, think about how you might spread a little more joy in the world, hold your loved ones close, always be kind, and never take life too seriously. In sharing our stories and memories, we honor his loving and compassionate spirit. Dave’s doing wheelies for the angels now and we do him great service in picturing him somewhere peaceful and beautiful. Heaven has gained a beautiful soul and angel.

Please keep the Taylor family and Dave’s many friends in your thoughts and prayers as they navigate this difficult time.

David’s service will be held at on Saturday, Feb. 15 at Brandywine Baptist Church, 1463 Baltimore Pike Chadds Ford. Visitation will be from 10-11 a.m., with the service beginning at 11. He will be laid to rest alongside his grandfather and great grandfather.

Following the service, there will be a celebration of life, where there will be an opportunity for everyone to share stories of this beautiful young man.

In lieu of flowers, a scholarship fund has been set up in Dave’s memory. Checks can be made out to CCIU In the memo portion please write “In memory of David G. Taylor, Jr auto service scholarship fund” Mail to TCHS Pennocks Bridge, 280 Pennocks Bridge Rd, West Grove, PA 19390 Attn: Brian Hughes

The scholarship will be presented by his brother Nick during the spring awards ceremony.

Arrangements by the Kuzo Funeral Home, Kennett Square.

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Rabbinic Reflections: Mystery and majesty

“It is like spring, but I could do without the rain,” he said. I responded, “April showers bring May flowers.” He quickly retorted, “Yeah, but it is February!” Indeed, the weather has been unseasonably warm, and for all the wet, it has left us bereft of snow. Birds and plants seem to be returning despite the calendar. It is supposed to be winter here, how can nature not know?

I confess that I have not spent much time pondering the mystery of mishaps in the order of the natural world. I usually chalk up anomalous weather to climate change. Perhaps more jarring, I keep the Jewish seasonal holidays very much based on the calendar, not the weather. Something is off, and I cannot ignore the questions that poses for me.

As it happens, my preparations for Monday’s Jewish holiday known as Tu BiShvat, literally the 15th of the Hebrew month of Shvat, posed a similar question. Tu BiShvat is most often called the Jewish new year for trees, though some call it a Jewish Arbor Day or Jewish Earth Day. It has ancient roots based on tax policy for fruit-bearing trees and took on mystical significance in the early Middle Ages. The early Kabbalists developed a seder, an ordered discussion with symbolic foods and drinks. This seder has four parts for each of the seasons. The question I had to grapple with intently was with which season should we start, fall or winter.

At issue is when the fully white cup of wine or grape juice fits. Is it winter’s cold, bare climate? Is it fall’s change and loss? The answer impacts how we end the seder, too. Do we end with a sense of renewal and color with autumn or do we see summer as robust and heartening? The last season of the seder gets a fully red cup of wine or grape juice; the middle cups get a mixture. To complicate matters, Israel’s winter is the rainy season which ends up greening the land.

Our recent Brandywine Valley weather has been much like that winter blessing of rain in Israel that brings the blossoming of trees and flowers. It feels like I should have this year’s Tu BiShvat seder start with fall as the colorless season. Somehow, though, I cannot.

What I realized and can do and should do is to deepen my appreciation for the symbols for the seasons, regardless of their names or time of year. The cycle of white, clear openness turning darker little by little into the fullness of color and body is what really matters. That cycle, with each step along the way, awakes my sense of awe to the mystery of nature, of Creation. Of course, I have questions about how the birds and plants know the weather without regard to the calendar. Of course, I have questions about the flow of seasons and shifts that could be temporary or not. Those questions are precisely the mystery to which I am called to pay attention.

Frankly, I find that mystery a bit overwhelming. I am not only in awe by how little we may know with our almanacs and meteorology but also by how elaborate nature must be in that light. Contemplating the mystery even for a little while has opened my eyes to just how tremendous our natural world is. In so doing, I have come to see nature’s magnificence at a whole new level.

As inevitably our conversations turn to the weather, I invite you to wonder just a bit more deeply at the mystery you encounter. I hope you find, as I have, just how magnificent that mystery is.

About Rabbi Jeremy Winaker

Rabbi Jeremy Winaker is the executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Hillel Network, responsible for West Chester University, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and other area colleges. He is the former head of school at the Albert Einstein Academy in Wilmington and was the senior Jewish educator at the Kristol Hillel Center at the University of Delaware for four years. Rabbi Winaker lives in Delaware with his wife and three children.