“It's too soon. It's too soon. We, not only did he have plans, we had plans. We had plans and you look up and tomorrow is not promised and now I wear his wedding ring around my neck,” said wife Emmlynn Taylor.
Saying goodbye to her husband of almost 19 years is one of the hardest things Emmlynn Taylor has ever done. He was her friend, companion and traveling partner.
“We wanted to travel to Australia, we wanted to travel to Africa, we wanted to travel back to Haiti when things got better,” said Taylor.
But those plans faded after Jules Taylor Jr. tested positive for coronavirus. Taylor died Sunday, a month after his wife dropped him off at North Shore University Hospital.
“He got to the door of the emergency room. He turned around, I said I love you. He said I love you. We waved at each other and that is the last time I saw him on his own two feet,” said Taylor.
The hospital kept her in constant communication with her husband so, unlike many, she was able to say goodbye. Taylor's death has devastated his family and friends who say he was smart, outgoing and funny, sort of.
“Well he thought he was funny,” Taylor said.
Taylor was a Human Resources Director for a local non-profit, a board member of the Rosedale Civic Association in Queens and an avid sports fan.
He was born in Haiti and raised in Brooklyn. He moved to New York with his mother and brother when he was just six years old.
“She was an accountant and they were looking for accountants if you had a degree to come to New York,” said Taylor.
In 2000, Taylor met Emmlynn and fell in love. They got engaged three months later and married the following year.
“We actually got married in Maui. We called it getting Mauied,” Taylor said.
They never had children but they always had each other until now. But, in the middle of her despair Emmlynn Taylor's community and sorority sisters from Alpha Kappa Alpha gave her a surprise that has lifted her spirits. They brought her food and gifts, but most of all support.
“I will never be able to repay the kindness. I will need you for a long time because how am I going to be a widow at 52?” she said.
She now believes her faith and this sisterhood will help her through this time. Jules Taylor Junior was 58.