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Peace To You, Zachary

By Staff | Mar 14, 2012

Zachary Taylor

We, like many, were saddened to hear of the passing of Zachary Taylor on Tuesday morning. The courageous young New Martinsville man taught many about the frailty of life and the importance of family and God.

You may recall the story we printed about Zachary on Nov. 16, 2011. He was given one to two weeks to live. He wanted that brief time to be as joyous and carefree as possible and he wanted to make his eventual death as easy on his family as possible. That is why he planned his own funeral.

Unfortunately funerals aren’t free and he didn’t want his family to fret over the costs. Funeral Director Weldon Williams didn’t want Zachary to have that worry either, so he created the Zachary Taylor Trust at WesBanco.

You read the story and you gave an overwhelming response. The fund quickly amassed enough money to pay for his funeral and his medical expenses. Then Zachary requested that the fund be paid forward to pay funeral expenses of other young people unable to afford the costs.

Thank you Zachary for your vision and heart. Thank you for teaching us your motto: FROG — Forever Rely On God.

We hope his fund will continue indefinitely. It will keep his vision alive and his memory real. His obituary, on page 2A, asks that memorial contributions be made to that fund. We hope others may choose that as their charity of choice in the future too.

Zachary lived almost four months more than the doctors predicted, but his heart will live on much longer.