Parker Owen Taylor

Parker Owen Taylor was born in Dallas, Texas, on May 25, 1992.

He was the first child of John Owen Taylor and Kelley Lynne Taylor and the first grandchild to all of his grandparents: Rex Kelsey ("Papa Rex") and Barbara Kelsey ("Grandma"), Bill Teinert ("Papa Moo Cow") and both Carolyn Teinert and Sandy Teinert (Bill's subsequent wife), as well as Bill Taylor (who passed in 1988 prior to Parker's birth) and Bette Taylor (who passed recently in late July of 2022).

After moving from Dallas to San Antonio shortly after his birth, and as both the first child and grandchild, Parker was surrounded by an abundance of love, attention, and an excess of gifts and toys. While he was a sweet baby during the day, he suffered from colic from around 8pm until 2am each evening for several months, which pushed his parents close to their physical limits. During his years in school however, he was an exceptionally easy child. With both parents working during his early years, he was blessed to be cared for a few days each week by his grandparents, primarily Barbara Kelsey, supplemented by Carolyn Teinert, as well as his aunts M'Lee Taylor Brooks and Amanda Teinert.

While he was attending Huebner Elementary in San Antonio, John and Kelley learned that Parker was not only intelligent, but also a gifted athlete. This was a surprise to his parents as they felt they only contributed average genetics in both categories. Despite his natural talents, he never wanted to be the center of attention and would hide in the back row of team and school photos, although it was hard to hide because he was usually tallest. In pick-up basketball games and other sports, he was always the first pick thanks to his talent and the fact that he was an exceptional team player.

Parker strongly disliked change and protested when his parents moved the family to Spring Branch, just north of San Antonio. Once in Spring Branch, Parker attended Arlon Seay Intermediate School, Spring Branch Middle School, and Smithson Valley High School. He attended college at The University of Texas at Austin where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and a Minor in Engineering. After graduation, through the referral of a family friend, Rodney Unruh, he applied for one job and was hired at AT&T in Austin, where he continued working until his passing.

Parker's passions included family, friends, protecting those he loved, playing team sports (including live sports, fantasy leagues, and online gaming), seeking the meaning of life, and finding a life companion.

Family

Parker valued family. He looked forward to family vacations, hanging out at the family lake house at Lake LBJ, Taylor family reunions, spending time with Papa Moo Cow, Sandy, and his fun uncle Scott at Bill's Ranch, hunting with Papa Rex, and family dinners at El Jarro's. Parker was fiercely protective of his younger brother, Preston, and sister, Paige. When anyone threatened their happiness, Parker was always the first to come to their rescue. Parker introduced them both to the best music, especially Dermot Kennedy, Glass Animals, and Shane Smith & The Saints, to name a few. While growing up, Parker was the typical older brother to Preston, but as they grew up it turned into a very important friendship. Parker and Preston confided in each other on a regular basis, using each other as sounding boards, seeking each other's advice, or simply playing Xbox together. Parker would always talk with Paige about music and the San Antonio Spurs, introducing her to old school rap or giving an insightful analysis of the Spur's players.

Friends

Parker deeply valued his friends. Whether at the lake, the ranch, the beach, on the football field or basketball court, on college trips, or playing Xbox games online, he wanted to spend time with his friends and have fun. He had a strong and ever-expanding core group of friends he stayed in touch with until his last days.

Protector

Parker was a fierce protector of those close to him. While he typically avoided confrontation or fights, if someone threated his family or friends, a switch would flip in Parker, and you would not want to be on the opposing side of either his physical or verbal wrath.

Team Sports

While he was very talented in every sport he attempted, his true passion was having fun playing with friends and winning as a team. He was always excited to pass the ball and help a teammate score even though he was the one every teammate would want to have the ball in his hand when the game was on the line. As a perfect example, during conditioning drills at football practice, he would run with his friends who were offensive linemen (typically the slowest on the team), until one day during his junior year when he was asked to run the 40-yard sprint with two of the fastest players on the team, Zack Craig and Alex Rubin. Both they, and the coaches, were shocked when Parker finished ahead of them. In typical Parker fashion, his parents never heard about this directly from him, but only later from teammates. He also helped friends and family members pick and manage their fantasy football teams, helping them win or finished near the top of their leagues all from behind the scenes with little recognition.

Meaning of Life

While Parker made an early commitment to live life as a Christian and follower of Jesus, he was always troubled by the idea that his friends of other faiths, good people, could be condemned to hell for having different beliefs. He wrestled with this and was constantly seeking the truth in passionate discussions about faith with family and friends. With that said, he recently shared he believed there is a higher power and was hopeful that there is more than one way to heaven.

Life Companion

While Parker was quite shy around girls and relatively content hanging with his friends, he was always looking for a woman with whom he could build a committed, life-long relationship. He only seriously dated a few women in the last ten years, as he was very picky and also unnecessarily concerned about his own desirability as a mate. About eight years ago, he met Ansley Firkus and developed a quick attachment. Ansley was living in San Marcos and despite an attraction to Parker, she was not ready for a serious relationship at the time. Despite this, Parker continued to see and pursue Ansley in their common friend groups. A little over a year ago, Ansley and Parker began dating and his family and friends saw a peace and joy in him that had not been witnessed in many years.

Services

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, August 20, 2022 at 11am at Riverside Community Church, 1100 Bulverde Road, Bulverde, Texas 78163. All are welcome. Casual attire. For those who cannot join us, the service will be on a live stream at https://www.connect2riverside.com/

Donations can be made in Parker's name to the SpursGive at One AT&T Center Parkway, San Antonio, TX 78219 or to a charity of your choice in his honor.