“My friends, we have lost a giant,” intoned former New Haven Mayor John Daniels.
Daniels and friends and family gathered on Tuesday morning to celebrate the life of Doctor Paul Bradley Taylor Jr., who passed away last week at the age of 81. Taylor was Connecticut’s first African-American optometrist.
At the morning funeral service at the Immanuel Baptist Church on Chapel Street, Taylor was remembered as a man who gave generously and tirelessly to his community. He grew up in the Dixwell neighborhood and returned there to open his optometry practice, serving the neighborhood for 50 years.
Former Mayor Daniels drew more than a few calls of “Amen!” from the congregation as he talked about the life and legacy of “Doc,” whom he knew since their childhood together in Dixwell.
“I will always remember Doc because he never forgot where he came from,” said Daniels, describing the Dixwell of 65 years ago as a black neighborhood with a “liquor store on every corner and a bar in between.” It was to this underserved neighborhood that Bradley (pictured) chose to return after completing optometry school in Boston, “to establish his office right straight on Dixwell Avenue.”
Daniels was one of several speakers to highlight the fact that Taylor would often give eyeglasses to those who could not afford them.
“As far as I was concerned, my father was always nine feet tall,” said Paul Taylor III. “We couldn’t go anywhere without someone saying ‘Hey, Dr. Taylor!’”
“He belongs to all of us,” Taylor III concluded.
After the service, the eldest of Dr. Taylor’s five children, Dane Taylor, said that his father couldn’t drive down Dixwell without being hailed by drivers and pedestrians, causing traffic jams as everyone stopped to talk to him. “He was a menace in traffic,” chuckled Dane, who now lives in Houston.
Outside the church after the hearse had driven away, Daniels continued to reminisce. He spoke about Dr. Taylor’s appointment as the first African-American member of the Board of Education in Hamden, the town where Taylor came to reside. At the time of this appointment, Hamden was “going through some racial problems,” Daniels said. Black people were moving into Hamden, and the schools were becoming more integrated. As a member of the school board, Taylor “played an integral role in bringing the community together,” Daniels said.
With Taylor giving away eyeglasses when people couldn’t afford them, it was a wonder that he made any money. What’s more, Taylor always seemed to have time for everyone. Daniels said that he used to go to get his eyes checked and end up talking all morning with Taylor. “That’s the amazing part about it,” said Daniels, with a smile. “At the time, I was surprised he was staying in business.”
Taylor leaves his wife, Priscilla, five children, nine grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.