Sept. 28, 1974 – Sept. 30, 2014

Big, beautiful blue eyes and a heart of gold

All who knew this young lady would tell you she was an angel.

Tayla suffered a horrific accident at home on the night before her 40 th birthday when she fell down her basement stairs, striking her head which caused massive head trauma. She will be missed by everyone that had the opportunity to meet her.

Tayla grew up as the only and oldest sister to four brothers. Her mom was her best friend. Her dad (that would be me) was a policeman. She always told me, “Dad, most people wait a lifetime to meet their hero… mine raised me.”

Tayla loved children and assisted with many programs at the former Pleasant Hill Elementary School. She often took children in from her neighborhood that were misguided and needed a little kindness, love and understanding. Not that she didn’t have her hands full; she had three boys of her own, Derrick, Devon and Cale, plus her husband T.J., who did whatever he could do to help fulfill her wishes.

She was a toy runner for Toys for Tots as well as a volunteer for several functions hosted by the Sangamon County FOP Lodge 55. She helped with food preparation and arranged for a refrigerated trailer to assist residents in the Village of Jerome after the devastating tornado in March 2006.

Tayla worked as a dietary food manager for Walnut Ridge Nursing Home, Springfield Terrace and Springfield Health Care. Eventually she decided to enter the medical field and completed classes to become a phlebotomist. Tayla began her medical career in the ER at St. John’s Hospital. She then moved to Springfield Clinic and then SOGA, which later became the Springfield Center for Women’s Health. She often visited with those that she befriended at the nursing centers. Her patients loved her and would often travel from other clinics to have Tayla perform their blood draws, which were painless to most of her patients. She became a second family member to those she worked with and was loved by all.

Several years ago, Tayla chose to donate her viable organs and as of Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014, Tayla’s organs have saved five lives. We later learned that someone received those big beautiful blue eyes of hers.

I never had any idea of how many lives Tayla had touched until the night of her memorial. Hundreds of acquaintances, friends and family came to pay their last respects. I never had a clue that God had blessed me with such a special child.

Those big blue eyes and that heart of gold now live on with her gifts to others. But this Dad will always miss his little girl. –Daniel D. Skaggs Sr., father