Patriotism brings together songwriters, veteran

Retired Air Force Col. Clarence Taylor said he is doing what he can to give educators the recognition they deserve.

Taylor, who grew up in Kansas City, Kan., moved back to this area after retirement, and through his ownership of the Chick-Fil-A near Oak Park Mall, he is giving back to the community, especially to students and teachers.

“We do what we can,” Taylor said. “A lot of people walk in here with letters wanting donations for their fundraising programs. We have a Web site (www.cfaoakpark.com) and a lot of people go through that to support school classes for good manners, good behavior, for perfect attendance, whatever it might be.

“Any teachers that put in a request, we try to honor them and take care of them.”

This past school year, Taylor partnered with the Shawnee Mission School District and organized other local sponsors for a Teacher Appreciation Banquet. Forty-five educators were selected as their school’s Teacher of the Year.

“We hosted the banquet in my store,” Taylor said. “They could only bring one person plus themselves because of a lack of space, but I’ve teamed up with the school district and they are going to help me do it in a bigger fashion this year.

“We had about 16 different local businesses that were sponsors to help us in providing gifts and prizes to teachers just to show our appreciation. I think (teaching) is one of the most under-respected career fields in America.”

No matter where Taylor has lived, he has been involved in the community. His junior high school sweetheart and wife, Harriett, has been an academic adviser, registrar, counselor, and currently is the academic adviser for the University of Kansas’ Upward Bound program helping military veterans wanting to go back to college.

“We have it backwards when you pay an athlete all this money and you’re not taking care of our teachers, the people responsible for raising our youth and the next generation,” Taylor said. “It’s a small thing that I’m trying to do, to show we really appreciate what they’re doing and I know how hard they work everyday and some of the restrictions they have to deal with.”

After being part of the first graduating class at JC Harmon High School in 1974 and then playing football and graduating from Washburn University four years later, Taylor joined the Air Force. He spent 29 years as a navigator on B-52 and B-1 bombers, and moved 12 times, with stints at the Pentagon and at the National Imagery and Mapping Agency. He served as a professor of aerospace studies at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and also served as the Mission Support Group Commander at Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, La.

It was there he came in possession of a patriotic video put together by the Gant Sisters, Elizabeth and Katherine. The sisters owned a private music school in the Kansas City area for 46 years and have written countless scores of children’s music.

After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, they re-recorded “America, I Love You,” using more than 400 children in grades one through five from Pembroke Hill School. Although the Gant sisters and Taylor had never met, through a mutual friend Taylor received a copy of the video.

“A friend walked that tape in, gave it to me, and said I needed to listen to it,” Taylor said. “It was such a patriotic song. Next to the ‘Star Spangled Banner,’ man, that’s one of the most patriotic songs I’ve heard in a long time and you put the video behind it, it is very powerful.

“I was able to play that tape for the whole base. We played it on several occasions on the base and I sent it to several other commanders, too.”

Taylor retired on Sept. 1, 2007, and several months after he opened his Chick-Fil-A in April 2008, he and the Gant sisters finally met.

“He was so taken by our video, he surprised us with a beautiful picture of a famous bomber,” Elizabeth said. “He had it beautifully framed and matted and signed by all of the military people there at Barksdale. We were so touched.

“And when he opened the Chick-Fil-A, he contacted us and we reconnected; we really have become good friends.”

Taylor laughs in recalling meeting the Gant sisters for the first time.

“As soon as I saw them, I knew who they were from the video,” he said. “They are regular customers now. They come in and we share war stories, but they are a beautiful couple.

“With me being from Kansas City, when I heard the tape and began playing it for others, I was so proud; I was walking around with my chest stuck out cause this was a home-grown product and it was one of the most patriotic songs I had heard in a long time.”

Elizabeth expressed her gratitude for the community commitment Taylor has made to the area.

“This man is reaching out to the community; he’s not just selling chicken sandwiches, he has patriotism in his heart and his soul,” she said. “He’s really a beautiful person, just a wonderful human being. Col. Taylor is the ultimate patriot.”

Taylor and his wife live in Shawnee and have two children and one grandson.

“We’re back with family, friends, and the church I grew up in,” he said, adding, “and all those folks are still looking out for me, still praying for me.”

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