OPELIKA, AL, USA U.S. Army SGT, BATTERY B, 1ST BATTALION, 41ST FIELD ARTILLERY, 3D ID, (TF LIBERTY), FORT STEWART, GA BALAD, IRAQ 07/24/2005
One main thing brought Christopher J. Taylor and his wife together: alphabetization. The two met on the first day of school in the seventh grade and sat next to each other in gym class because her last name was Ray and his was the closest in alphabetical order.
I guess we just clicked from then on, Janina Taylor said. It was just something about his personality. We were like two peas in a pod since then. Taylor, 22, of Opelika, Ala., killed July 24 in a mortar attack in Balad. He was stationed at Fort Stewart.
He graduated with honors from high school in 2001. His fifth-grade teacher, Lynda Caswell, described him as a student who always kept his head up. Chris was one of those kids – he didn’t have everything going his way, she said. He always kept a great attitude.
She said she remembered one time that he was teased by some fellow classmates, but he shrugged it off. He never complained about it, Caswell said. He never treated those other kids different in retaliation.
He also is survived by a 3-year-old son, Xavier, and a 10-month-old daughter, Aaliyah.
Some comments from Janina Taylor – Christopher’s wife:
Chris was fun loving person who could make anyone laugh. Everyone enjoyed his company. He was a kid at heart. He was a video game head. Smart. Outgoing. Very silly. He was his son’s favorite to play with. Loved to wrestle.
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