Last month the idea of installing a splash pad and renaming the park were both introduced at the August 19 Jamestown City Council Work Session. During the meeting city resident Wanda Cooper spoke to city officials about changing the name of the park to honor the late Isabelle Jackson and Lula and Vivian Taylor. She said the name of the new park would be Jackson Taylor Park.

During the same meeting, Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi made a pitch to the City Council saying Jamestown could open a splash pad similar to the one in Dunkirk if it is able to secure funding to pay for the project.

Tuesday’s commission meeting will take place at 5 p.m. in the DPW Conference Room “A,” 4th floor, City Hall and is open to the public.

The late Vivian (left) and Lula Taylor

A long-time member of the Jamestown Community who spent his life serving the public has passed away.

Former Jamestown City Councilman Vivian Taylor passed away Wednesday morning at UPMC Chautauqua. He was 94 years old.

Taylor was born in the segregated south of North Carolina. According to the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, he attended Stillman Institute in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, before being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943. During World War II, he served in the European Theater of Operations until 1945, receiving various medals and battle stars. After the Army, he attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, and would later go on to earn a degree from SUNY Fredonia in the 1970s.

In his professional life, he spent over 30 years working at Marlin Rockwell in Jamestown. After marrying his late wife Lula in August 1950, the couple moved to Jamestown, and Vivian immediately immersed himself in a lifestyle of community service.

Over his life in Chautauqua County, he has compiled an impressive resume: 24 years as a City of Jamestown councilman; board member for the Lucile M. Wright Air Museum; board member for the Senior Citizens Center; Jamestown Civil Air Patrol Senior Squadron member; former member of Chautauqua Region Family Services; commissioner for the Boy Scouts; and member of the YMCA’s “Y’s Men.”

Awards he has received include: the Dewitt Clinton Award, which is awarded by the Masonic Lodge for community service, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Award, and being named to the Who’s Who Among Black Americans. 

The Taylors were the recipients of the CRCF’s John D. Hamilton Community Service Award in 2007.

Lula Taylor passed away earlier this year in March.

Funeral arrangements for Vivian Taylor will be announced by the Lind Funeral Home.

Lula Taylor (right) with husband Vivian. (Image from Chautauqua Region Community Foundation – CRCFOnline.org)

JAMESTOWN – A trailblazer in local politics and community service has passed away.

The family of former African-American Chautauqua County legislator Lula Taylor, 89 of Jamestown, is announcing her passing.

According to Taylor’s grandson – former Jamestown councilman Michael Taylor who now lives in the Philadelphia area – Lula Taylor lived through the depression, the Jim Crowe south, stood next to Civil War veterans as a young child, and met with future presidents, first ladies, governors, and senators.

In politics, Taylor became the first black woman to hold a county legislature seat in New York State when she was elected to the Chautauqua County Legislature, where she served for 14 years.

In addition to serving the people, she has also worked for improvement of the community through the following organizations: Chautauqua County Board of Health; Chautauqua County Health Network Advisory Board; Office for the Aging Advisory Board; Falconer Rotary; and she sponsored the first public AIDS awareness forum in Chautauqua County in 1996. In recognition for her community service, Lula was awarded the DeWitt Clinton Award in 2003 with her husband and was named a YWCA Woman of Achievement for her work through government in 2005.

Taylor is survived by her Husband Vivian Taylor, who is also a former elected official, having served on the Jamestown City Council. Together, they are co-founders of the Chautauqua County Black History Committee; co-chairs of the Jamestown Interracial Forum; attend the Blackwell Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church, with Lula Taylor serving as Youth Director of the Youth Fellowship; served as members of Reachout Ministries; the Underground Railroad Tableau Project Steering Committee; and were involved in Euclid and Washington School PTA.

In 2007, Lula and Vivian were the co-recipients of the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation’s John D. Hamilton Community Service Award.

Funeral arrangements for Taylor will be announced by the Lind Funeral Home.