Lee Street High School Alumni Band honored their long-time band director and teacher Reginald Taylor Jr. with a visionary event Saturday night.
“I love you all,” Taylor said, during his remarks at the end of the evening. “All of you. I mean that. I love all of you. Blackshear has been so very good to me.”
The event had been planned for 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The delay and a thunderstorm as the banquet got underway did not dampen the festivities as more than 100 people were in attendance to honor Taylor.
Taylor was the former band director and social studies teacher at Lee Street High School from when he began his teaching career until the school was closed in 1969 and integrated with Blackshear High School.
The event was hosted by the 1961-1969 alumni of Lee Street High School.
The theme of the evening was “The Vision: To Sir, with Love”.
Taylor was presented with a oil painting portrait of himself by the Lee Street Band Alumni. The painting was done by artist and Lee Street Band Alumnus Robert Brown.
The former band director also took up his baton and directed a recorded version of The Washington Post.
Various friends and family paid tribute and homage to Taylor including community and civic leader Bernice Blakely Bowles, fellow Gaines Chapel A.M.E. Church member Beulah Jacobs Evans and his brother-in-law, Melvin Johnson.
Appearing via video or through written remarks were alumni band member Dr. Charlotte King Eady, his former Lee Street High School co-worker Dr. Leviticus Roberts and his best friend, Dr. Lucious Wyatt.
Throughout the night, those giving reflections credited Taylor with being a good example, teaching social skills as well as music and noting he was firm but fair.
“Mr. Taylor said the only excuse for missing practice was a death,” one former student recalled.
“That death had to be your own,” he added, drawing laughs and “Amens” from the audience.
Musical selections included “Total Praise” by Cortazzo Robinson on the trumpet accompanied by background music from the Florida A&M Band, “Oh Lord, How Excellent” by Cheryl Holmes Lott, “The Impossible Dream” by Taylor’s college friend at Florida A&M University, Pastor Eugene White and “To Sir With Love” by Eldress Eva Barnum Avant.
Russell Tyson conducted the roll call of each band member present. Those present gave reflections of Mr. Taylor. A memorial service for those who are deceased was also held.
Master of Ceremonies was Raymond Ransom Jr., an alumni band member and son of the late Ray Ransom Sr., long-time principal of Lee Street High. Jerry West, alumni band member, presented Mr. Taylor.
The banquet meal included roast beef, baked chicken, rice pilaf with gravy, green beans, tossed salad, strawberry shortcake, glazed pound cake and sweet tea, unsweet tea or water. Pastor Nathaniel Anderson, an alumni band member and pastor of Evergreen Church in Bristol, offered the invocation and blessing of the meal.
Equilla Whymener Evans Robinson was the chairperson of the event and the recognition of Taylor was her vision.
Lott gave the acknowledgements and words of thanks to close the ceremony. Lott also designed the programs. Alumni band members Mattie NeSmith and Vaniece Harris decorated for the event.
A mix and mingle social and dance were held after the banquet.
Taylor later was guidance counselor at Blackshear High School and at Pierce County High School later becoming assistant principal at PCHS. He was appointed the first African American principal in Pierce County Schools when he became principal of Ware Street Elementary School in 1989. He retired in 1994 after 32 years in education. He also served several terms on the Blackshear City Council and is a past recipient of the Chamber’s Citizen of the Year and the Exchange Club’s Book of Golden Deeds Award.
Taylor and his late wife, Laurine Williams Taylor, have one daughter, Robyn Taylor Moore and two granddaughters, Taylor Moore and Kourtney Moore.
Taylor was featured on First Coast News, WTLV, 12 out of Jacksonville, FL.
Alumni who would like a DVD of the banquet honoring Taylor can call Jerry West at (904) 868-5653.
Members of the 1961-1969 Lee Street High Alumni Band include Nathaniel Anderson, Willie Mae Atkinson, Eva Barnum Avant, Velma Davis Avant, Danny Barnes, Burnice Barnum, Daniel Barnum, Willie Barnum, Josephine Betterson, Barbara Britton, Dexter Britton, Robert Brown, Steven Brown, Aubrey Clinch, Gloria Ransom Coleman, Carolyn Woody Davis, Charlotte King Eady, John Eaddy, Sammye Eaddy, Linda Britton Flanigan, Gail Broadnax Fuller, James Grady, Jimmy Graham, Larry Grant, Stacy Gray, Raymond Greene, Alberta Harris Hall, Annie Echols Harris, Louis (LJ) Harris, Vaniece McGauley Harris, Carolyn Smiley Hill, Margaret Pate Holmes, Jerald Hyler, Mamie Heard Jenkins, Terry Jinks, Patricia McCray Kendrick, Ethel Brown Lambert, Michael Lawton, Cheryl Ann Holmes Lott, Reginald McClendon, Chucula McGauley, Simon McGauley, Franklin Milledge, Cecil NeSmith, Mattie Murdock NeSmith, Ronald Newton, Thomas Nunn, Morris (MJ) Payne, Jr., Charles Pender, Raymond Ransom, Jr., William Reid, Debra Irene Evans Roberts, Gervin Robertson, Equilla Whymener Evans Robinson, Kathy Jacobs Rogers, Cheryl Broadnax Sanders, Mary Fussell Sims, Viola Barnum Smith, Lois Taylor, Velma Madison Tippens, Tommy Turner, Lee Tyson, Russell Tyson, Steven Warren, Jerry West, Johnny West Jr. and Madelyn Brown White.
Deceased band members include Barbara Barron, Julia Bivins, Kenneth Brown, Franklin Evans, John Evans Sr., Annette Brown Farley, Clementine Moses Harris, Scealy Mae Pender Hooker, Patricia Hyler Howard, Ernest Hyler, Jerome Jacobs, Cheryl Moody Knox, Charles Lawton, Gerald (Butch) Lawton, Gail Lee, Wesley Lincoln, James Lowe, Terry NeSmith, Lester Pender, Christopher Surrency, Doretha Wilson Tippens, Willie Tippens, Isaiah Welch, Robert West Jr. and Patrice Pender Williams.
