When I learned of Mike Taylor's passing a year or so ago, I searched in my mounds of photos for a picture that I knew existed somewhere - a picture of the two of us dressed for prom. I stopped searching until recently when I decided to take advantage of being indoors so much -- thanks to COVID-19 and Arizona's summer heat -- to tackle (well, organize) piles of pictures and deteriorating albums spanning the many years since high school. With persistence and maybe a little luck, I found that missing photo!

I've tried to remember how it came about that Mike and I got together for prom. I don't recall that we ever actually dated before prom, or after for that matter, but I do recall that he was such a fun guy to be around and I enjoyed spending time with him.

Once when Mike came to my house early evening, he didn't realize that my dad, while remodeling the back porch, had temporarily removed the steep steps going from the porch into our deeply sloping backyard. As I yelled out for Mike to stop walking toward the porch steps (or where they should have been), all I heard was a thud and swearing as he crashed into the back yard and rolled down the hill. Fortunately, Mike wasn't hurt -- and maybe I just underlined the reason we didn't date again.

Because I enjoyed Mike so much, it is sad to admit that I'm not sure I ever saw him more than a time or two after we left high school. That may have been my fault more than his because of my wanderlust. I don't know what he did for a living, who he married, or where life led him in general. What I do know, however, is that Mike was a genuinely kind soul with a sense of humor that makes me smile to this day.

Linda Poteat Blanton (Pete)