I was born March 20, 1935, which makes me 84 at the time of writing this.
My hometown is Middleton, New York, but four years in the Air Force brought me to the Midwest–Minnesota and North Dakota–in 1956.
My wife was a Wisconsin girl whom I met in Rochester, Minnesota, while she was in nursing training. We married in June, 1958.
I worked for West Bend Co. for 11 years following my time in the service, and when the company changed owners we moved to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1969 to manage a music store.
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That was the start of my long journey to becoming a professional entertainer at the age of 57.
My dream to become a professional singer started at a young age, but after getting married and starting a family it faded away.
After working several jobs and starting several businesses in an attempt to support my wife and six children, the old dream started to come alive again.
I never did stop to think that I was getting too old to follow my dream. Now, at 84, I have played over 5,000 shows and put out seven albums. I am, as they say “Living the dream.”
I still perform more than 20 shows a month, on average, and I enjoy meeting so many new faces and seeing new places every year.
When will I retire? When it isn’t fun anymore. You need a reason to get up and get going every day, if you want to live a long and exciting life. Find out what your passion is and go for it.
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Visit mrmemories.com for more information about Taylor.
rThis article was printed in the 60Plus section of the January/February 2020 issue of Omaha Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.