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4A | WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 2021 | APPEAL TRIBUNE Life of Molly/Ollie Taylor complicated, inspiring Capi Lynn Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK The ground rules established by the Taylor family were straightforward. The celebration of life for their child would be without anger over the circum- stances of death or hurt feelings over the use of certain names and pronouns. “For anyone that knew Molly slash Ollie, you’ll understand the comment that I make when I say it’s complicated,” dad Allen Taylor said. “There are people here in this gathering that only knew Molly. There are people in this gathering that only knew Ollie, or Oliver. There are people here that were blessed to know both. “It’s important for us as a family to have everyone here understand that all of that was the person that we loved, all of that was necessary to become the person that they became. As you hear people talk, as people share experienc- es, there will be times when we say Ollie, Oliver and he. There will be times that we say Molly and she. And it’s all the same person.” The Taylor’s transgender child died in a hospital May 19, a week after alleg- edly being kidnapped and shot by an ac- quaintance. Backlash surfaced in the days and weeks after the tragic incident due to misgendering in police and news reports. The 17-year-old’s sex assigned at birth was female, but the teen chose to identify as male in the past couple of years. The family posted online how the last thing their child would want is an argu- ment over the name or pronoun some- one chooses to use. “We the family are perfectly comfort- able using either, per our child’s direct instructions,” the post said. “Neither is an insult to the memory of our child, and they both together represent the mag- nificent life that we are all missing.” More than 100 people gathered to cel- ebrate that life June 19 at the Gervais High School football field, not far from the classroom where the teen inspired science teacher Matt Jones. “This isn’t just about a family that lost a daughter,” Jones said. “This is about a world that lost an extraordinary person, one of a kind, one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met. This kid could have done anything.” Molly/Ollie, as they were referred to throughout the service by family, friends and teachers, was described as creative and mischievous, caring and generous. The memories shared were often hi- larious — the toilet water and cheese stories come to mind — and sometimes heartbreaking. When she was a toddler, Molly had a little tea set and served cups of “tea” to an adult family friend who dutifully drank the water each time. After her parents realized what was happening, they broke the news to their friend: “You know the only place she can access wa- ter, right?” Another family friend shared about Molly/Ollie Taylor attended Gervais High School. COURTESY OF THE TAYLOR FAMILY the time Molly, around the age of 4, opened a Costco bag of shredded cheese and threw it everywhere in the kitchen like confetti. Mom Erin swept it up only to find cheese hidden in drawer after drawer. For every funny story told, there was a reference to a sad one. Older brother Nathan shared how, af- ter a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he re- turned home to find his family strug- gling and his sibling having a hard time. (He had her blessing to call her Molly, explaining how after a long conversa- tion, they told him, “I might not like it, but I’ll always be your little sister.”). “When it comes down to it, she was my little sister and I can truly say she was one of my best friends, as strained as she might have felt our relationship had been sometimes,” Nathan said. “I’m just so, so thankful that all of you are here for her. Because one of her biggest fears, one of the things that caused her the biggest stress and made her the most sad, was she felt like she was alone. “She felt like she could kill herself and not even her own family would cry. And I have seen so many tears — a lot of them have been mine — for her passing.” Others were aware they struggled at times with suicidal thoughts. The teen had a conversation with Jones, one of their favorite teachers, in early April. In-person school had re- sumed after the COVID-19 shutdown, and they stopped by to let Jones know that they were OK. They reminded him of a time during freshman year when they were sad. “I didn’t think my life was going to go on after that day, but I am so glad to be alive,” Jones remembered them telling him. He said the student was excited about life. “She began to show me the artwork she had created, the photos she had tak- en, the drawings and poems she had written,” Jones said. The teen was creative, took creative risks and had a following. One of their videos had nearly a quarter-million views. They had 10,000 followers on so- cial media. The Taylors shared a rap written by their child and called “Puzzle Piece.” Dad Allen read the lyrics at the begin- ning of the celebration, and then played a recording in the teen’s voice at the end with Billie Eilish music in the back- ground. Here’s how it ends: “A piece to a puzzle that’s not fully known A piece in the making being re-shap- en I am mistaken as trash more often than not But what is to happen when I’m not to rot But stand on my own after years in the shadows After years of being seen as nothing but clothes With others expecting me to simply decompose Yet I am still standing Here on my throne A piece to a puzzle, that is not yet known.” Friends knew the teen as someone who was kind and always there to offer a shoulder to lean on. “He’d always make sure that every- body he knew was OK,” one said, “even if he wasn’t.” “When he came into your life, he was there to make a difference,” another said. “You weren’t going to know him and not have some memories that make you smile, that you carry with you. He was one of those people that you come to with your problems, and you might not fix the problem, but you’ll come out with a smile.” Their friend was generous with the community, too. As a member of the Gervais FFA pro- gram, they logged countless hours at Oktoberfest, the Great Oregon Steam- Up, Oregon Ag Fest and an annual pumpkin patch. Their blue corduroy FFA jacket was on display at the entrance to the cele- bration, along with school and FFA cer- tificates, a varsity letter for soccer, neck- ties, county fair ribbons, multiple paint- ings and drawings, and a skateboard covered with decals, including LGBTQ and Pride stickers. They had a way with animals. Megan Dilson, ag teacher and FFA advisor at Gervais, was unable to attend but asked the family to share some of her thoughts. “The same adrenaline-fueled, loud, spastic person I knew and saw daily in class was the complete opposite in the FFA barn,” Dilson said. “It was in the quiet moments I saw a gentle Ollie working and talking softly with her lambs, Piglet and Mason, coaxing them in the paddock or on a nightly jaunt around the city of Gervais. The same gentle Ollie shined in the show ring and was proud of the job of raising the lambs for market.” Finding the words to encompass all of them was not easy for Becki Lader, a family friend and staff member at Ger- vais High School. She knew them as the Tasmanian devil. Tas was the nickname she gave them for the whirlwind visits they made to her office, cramming an hour’s worth of conversation into 60 seconds, writing something profound on the whiteboard, and then leaving in the blink of an eye. For Lader, they solidified a lesson she first learned from her late father. “Life’s not always black and white, and emotions come into play, and some- times we know what we’re supposed to do but it’s hard to do those things,” Lad- er said. “Through my relationship with Ollie Taylor, I was able to apply without a second thought how to love somebody even if I didn’t understand. And that is the legacy of Molly slash Ollie Taylor for me that will be eternally ingrained in my heart.” Drones are harassing coastal nesting birds Zach Urness Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Maryann Contreras and Gabriella Peña with AWARE Food Bank unveil a mural by MacLaren youth at the AWARE Food Bank in Woodburn, Oregon on Tuesday, June 29, 2021. BRIAN HAYES / STATESMAN JOURNAL Incarcerated youth give back with mural at AWARE Dianne Lugo Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK A new mural decorates the lobby of the AWARE Food Bank in Woodburn. The mural, featuring a multilingual “Welcome” and large heart surrounded by produce and food, was created by youth at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility. AWARE is one of two pantries directly managed by Marion Polk Food Share. “Art makes you feel good. Everybody loves art,” said Marco Acosta, 23, one of the artists. “Being from in here, you see a lot of injustice, you see a lot of suffer- ing, a lot of pain. But there’s also happi- ness within that.” Javier Perfecto, the Oregon Youth Au- thority’s multicultural and tattoo re- moval coordinator, said the team of art- ists worked on the piece every Friday af- ternoon for three months. Perfecto first connected with the AWARE Food Bank. He had originally visited the pantry to ask about acquir- ing popcorn and snacks for the youth for a movie program at the facility. Gabriella Peña, the AWARE Food Bank manager, said the two began searching for ways to grow a partner- ship between the food bank and Mac- Laren Youth Correctional Facility. The food bank had already been planning on commissioning a mural, Peña said. She contacted Perfecto about having the youth work on the piece. “I really wanted the opportunity to connect with them. And we did,” Peña said. Perfecto and Peña both helped un- veil and celebrate the new art piece Tuesday alongside Rick Gaupo, presi- dent of the Marion Polk Food Share. If you’re a black oystercatcher sit- ting on a nest of eggs, there is good reason to be concerned if a large, buzz- ing object flies directly at you. Even if the object is just a drone, the small blackish birds with reddish-or- ange bills often scatter in fear, worried that the unmanned aircraft is actually a predator such as a bald eagle or fal- con. The scenario has become increas- ingly common over the past two years at the Oregon Islands National Wild- life Refuge, the islands just off the coast that are critical for nesting shorebirds but also make for scenic drone videos. “When the birds fly away from their nest — to avoid getting eaten by what they think is a falcon — they leave their eggs or chicks vulnerable, exposing them to secondary predators like gulls, crows and vultures, which come in and eat up as much as they can,” said Dawn Harris of the U.S. Fish and Wild- life Service, which manages the is- lands off the Oregon beach. “It can be a significant loss.” As the number of drone operators on the Oregon Coast rises, the number of black oystercatchers has declined. They were listed as a species of con- cern in 2021 as their numbers dropped to an estimated 500 animals, Harris said. In response, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department is planning to have new rules on where drones can take off and land on the coast — and all state parks — next summer. “Drone use is a persistent and grow- ing problem for wildlife on Oregon’s coast,” said Brent Lawrence, public af- Oregon’s state parks department is planning to introduce legislation in 2021 that would allow them to create a set of rules governing drones at state parks. ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE fairs officer for USFWS. Beautiful scenery, delicate ecosystem It’s not surprising that drone pilots choose the Oregon Coast and its many islands for flights. The footage is often spectacular, taking in the sweep of the rugged cliffs and islands such as Hay- stack Rock from a bird’s eye view. But real birds are, in fact, nesting on just about every island or sea stack that’s surrounded by water, Harris said. And summer is when they nest. Previously, rangers and volunteers only saw a handful of drone operators flying near the islands, Harris said. But that number has jumped significantly, leading to more birds being stressed and driven off their nests. For birds in decline — such as the black oystercatcher — that can have consequences. “Every baby and chick is important,” Harris said.
