Taylor Rose

Taylor Martin Rose was born in Reno, Nevada November 14, 1990 to Martin and Debra Rose. He was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran church. He spent his early childhood there in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, where he began his deep appreciation for the outdoors. Taylor helped in the family garden and learned to ski when he was four. He would often raid the strawberry patch with his golden retriever, Pookie. Taylor attended Sierra Vista Children’s Academy where he had many little friends and favored being outside playing and collecting rocks. When Taylor was four years old, our family moved to Corona, Arizona, a small village outside of Tucson. He attended preschool at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, developing an appreciation for religion, culture and food. Taylor started to learn Hebrew and took his first woodworking class, “We Wood If We Could” that started his passion for working with wood and tools. Taylor attended elementary school through the 4th grade at Acacia Elementary in nearby Vail, Arizona. He was a very bright and curious child and thrived in school. He was friendly and inclusive and invited his entire kindergarten class to his birthday party. Taylor was very active in soccer, beginning with American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) and eventually playing on a club soccer team, where his dad was one of the coaches and Mom led the soccer fundraisers. In Corona, Taylor and his friends enjoyed roaming around the desert, building bike jumps and tree forts while avoiding rattlesnakes, coyotes and cactus. Our home backed to the fairways of a golf course, and on hot summer evenings when the sprinklers were turned on, he and his friends would run around on the fairway throwing water balloons. He also had great memories of attending many Thanksgivings at the Smith family farm in Maricopa, and sleeping in the bunkhouse with R. J., Pootie and Lolly. In the middle of fourth grade our family moved to Superior, Colorado. On the first day of school at Eldorado Elementary/Middle School he met his friend Travis, who had just moved from Wisconsin; nine years later they were freshman roommates at Colorado State University (CSU). Travis would later say, “No one ever could make me laugh as much as Taylor could”. It was at Eldorado that Taylor first learned to play the saxophone and the classical guitar. That began his lifelong passion for guitar and he continued to take lessons after middle school, becoming highly skilled at acoustic and electric guitar. He loved rock and roll, especially 60’s and 70’s, funk, and delta blues. His knowledge of even obscure bands and musicians was encyclopedic. If you got Taylor started on the subject, he simply would not stop talking. Taylor’s love of the mountains and his natural athleticism propelled his passion for snowboarding. In middle school, most winter weekends he and his friend Michael and others would take the ski bus from downtown Boulder up the mountain to Eldora Ski Resort. Michael became like a brother to Taylor, eating meals at our home, and keeping his bike, skate board, and snowboard in the garage next to Taylor’s. Michael shared Taylor’s passion for the outdoors and often accompanied our family on vacations, mostly to the beautiful Colorado mountains snowboarding in Summit County, Winterpark, MaryJane, and Steamboat. Once Taylor had a driver’s license and a used Jeep, he and his friends were usually in the mountains snowboarding on the weekend, where they rode the Snowcat into the back bowls, riding fresh powder, jumping off cliffs, using avalanche chutes as half-pipes, and taking runs through the trees. Taylor attended Monarch High School in Louisville, Colorado. He enjoyed physical science, math and chemistry, and electives in photography, ceramics and weight training. Taylor attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado where he enjoyed classes in geology, economics, and environmental sociology. He transferred to Ukiah, California to attend Mendocino College where he focused on music theory, guitar, and keyboards. Taylor’s high school friends stayed close into their early adult years. He treasured catching up at Andrew’s house where they would build enormous bonfires, BBQ, and play music. Andrew was there for Taylor though all the ups and downs. At age 21, Taylor was the victim of a random act of violence where he sustained significant facial trauma, requiring many surgeries and on-going dental procedures. That vicious crime left Taylor in constant physical and mental pain and changed his life forever. Despite his challenges, Taylor’s life was on a successful trajectory when it was cut too short. Taylor discovered a college program that suited his passion for music and working with his hands. Since 2015, Taylor was enrolled in Red Rocks Community College’s Fine Woodworking and Lutherie Program. Taylor’s goal was to learn to build wood instruments, including guitars. There, Taylor excelled at wood turning, custom finishing and joinery, often spending 12 hour days in the woodworking shop at school. Taylor will be remembered as a loving son and loyal and caring friend. The trials he dealt with made him extremely compassionate toward others. Taylor volunteered time feeding the homeless at the Boulder Homeless Shelter and cleaned kennels at the Boulder Humane Society. He was very intelligent and endlessly curious, favoring documentaries and the History Channel. Taylor rejected material things and disliked trends and social media, always searching for a deeper meaning of life and living authentically. We will always be grateful for the gift of Taylor in our lives. It was a privilege to be his parents and we will always love and miss him. Taylor’s ashes will be scattered in the mountains he loved, where he went snowboarding, camping, hiking and fishing. When we look at the mountains we know he is no longer in pain, he is in a better place. Throughout his life, Taylor enjoyed the companionship of a succession of Golden Retrievers, including Pookie, Sport, Aspen and Hannah. The family requests those wishing to make donations consider the Boulder Humane Society, where Taylor adopted his kitten, Bootsy, who was his constant companion. https://www.boulderhumane.org/content/memorials-and-tributes Click “Send a tribute e-card” and annotate in memory of Taylor Rose