Brunswick community celebrates local veteran's 101st birthday

BRUNSWICK — Joseph Taylor Jr., a World War II veteran, celebrated his 101st birthday with Brunswick community members, first responders and veterans on Sunday. Taylor, who was born July 21, 1923, served in the Army infantry during World War II in the South Pacific. He said he attributes his long life to living well. "No smokes, no drinks, and stuff like that," he said. "I never did any of that, and that's the only thing I can attribute it to. Clean life, healthy life." Taylor's caretaker Sheila Antczak initially reached out to Brunswick Police Community Engagement Officer Brian Mummert to celebrate Taylor's 99th birthday. Mummert said each year it gets bigger and bigger. The first celebration included a drive-by parade of police vehicles and fire trucks. "As word started getting out about what we were doing other people wanted to get involved, and it went really well," Mummert said. "During his 100th we had an outpouring of support from the community. I received birthday cards from around the country including Hawaii. There was so much support from the community." Mummert said the celebration got even bigger causing him to seek a public venue to allow the celebration to grow. More people wanted to participate, but due to the logistics of where Taylor lived, a large parade of vehicles wasn't practical. "This year being 101 we are like let's make it bigger and better," Mummert said. "We tried to find a public venue. Mission BBQ, huge supporters of military, first responders and things like that, they graciously wanted to host the event." State Rep. Melanie Miller, R-Ashland, and Brunswick Vice Mayor and President of Council Nicholas Hanek attended the event to celebrate Taylor. Miller gave Taylor a proclamation and Hanek gave him a certificate of celebration. Mummert said it is an honor to speak with Taylor and that Taylor is a great inspiration to everybody. "He is just the most down-to-earth guy that I have met," Mummert said. "For all of his accolades and accomplishments, he is just happy to talk to anybody. He doesn't necessarily want the attention, but he appreciates it. It truly has been my honor to get to know him and I look forward to celebrating his 102nd. We are going to do it even bigger and better." Taylor said he has had a good life, and that he is happy about almost everything. He said he was glad to see the people that came out because they are all good friends. "I think it's very nice," he said. "It's nice to know that people think that much about you to do something like this. It's very good to see this many people come out. It's nice to know they care." Contact reporter Patrick Rhonemus at (330) 721–4050 or prhonemus@medina-gazette.com.