Thomas Taylor helped keep order as an assistant doorkeeper for the Georgia House of Representatives.
There, he made sure no one brought in newspapers, signs of any stripe, cell phones, food and drink. He checked for proper identification, oversaw reserved seating, and ushered school groups in and out. He opened doors, too.
"The gallery is where Tommy worked," said Phil Tucker, a former assistant doorkeeper and current House postal director at the state Capitol. "He was a short, little guy, but a nice man. A very nice man."
Mr. Taylor's political ties led to his assuming the post. He was pals with Tom Murphy, the former Speaker of the House, and volunteered for the Democrat on the campaign circuit. He invited Mr. Taylor to serve as a doorkeeper, a position held by retirees.
"One thing led to another and it just bloomed from there," said Randy Taylor, a son who lives the Carroll County town of Temple. "I'd say he was a doorkeeper about 10 years, and he loved it. He had his picture made with almost everybody who came through, like Evander Holyfield, Muhammad Ali, a Miss Georgia. He loved the interesting people he met."
On Saturday, Thomas Liggon Taylor of Temple, and formerly of Buchanan, died from complications of pulmonary heart disease at his daughter's home in Rockmart. He was 89. The funeral was held Monday in the chapel of Hutcheson's Memorial Chapel & Crematory in Buchanan.
Born in Delta, Ala., Mr. Taylor served in the Navy as a gunner's mate during World War II. In 1964, he moved to Georgia and worked nearly 20 years for Southwire Company, a business in Carrollton that manufactures wire and cable for the transmission of electricity. When he retired, he became a doorkeeper for the Georgia House, on hand for the 40 daily sessions that start the second Monday of January.
"He kept order and always did a good job," said Butch Benefield of Cedartown, a former state trooper who worked security detail for Speaker Murphy. "Most times he sat outside the gallery and passed out visitors' passes. He made sure there were no disruptions, signs being held up and that kind of thing."
Mr. Taylor enjoyed fishing and would try his luck rain or shine. Before his health prevented it, favorite spots were Alabama's Gulf Shores and Lake Weiss, the self-described crappie capital of the world in Leesburg, Ala. Frances Ruth Brown Taylor, his wife of nearly 50 years, died in 1992.
Additional survivors include another son, Ronnie Taylor of Buchanan; two daughters, Sandra Pike of Rockmart and Teresa Stephenson of Cedartown; 12 grandchildren; 22 great-grandchildren; and one great-great grandchild.
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