Outside of Halfmoon Town Hall, the American flag waved at half mast, just feet away from where Taylor Parker anonymously stood two short weeks earlier at a 9/11 ceremony. Inside, a teary-eyed Mindy Wormuth, Halfmoon supervisor, reflected on a life that was far too short.
Parker, 26, died on Sunday, Sept. 23, at Albany Medical Center from injuries sustained in a one-vehicle accident on Cohoes-Crescent Road in Colonie at approximately 11:15 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 22.
Parker was a sergeant in the Army National Guard’s 42nd Infantry and had recently returned home to Halfmoon after serving in Iraq. His mother, Regina, is on the Halfmoon town board.
It’s a tragic time for the Parker family and the town of Halfmoon, Wormuth said Tuesday, Sept. 25. `To see him go on into the Army and serve and come back from Iraq certainly made us proud. He was our hometown hero. To lose him at such a young age was just tragic.`
Parker didn’t wish to be honored or recognized at the town’s 9/11 commemoration ceremony earlier this month. He served one tour of duty in Iraq and three tours of duty at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks.
`He was a very private young man,` she said. `He would give of himself to anybody, but never wanted to be recognized for it.`
Sgt. Robert Donnelly, who is the investigating officer with the Colonie police, said that the 2004 Ford Escape SUV Parker was driving went onto the shoulder of the westbound lane, at which time Parker, who was the only person in the car, overcorrected and crashed into the eastbound guard rail.
The SUV traveled along the guard rail, and at some point, Parker was ejected from the vehicle. He was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident.
Donnelly said the chances of Parker walking away from the accident were `exponentially higher` had he been wearing a seatbelt. Police are still investigating the accident and are awaiting toxicology reports from the hospital.
Parker was in full dress uniform at the time of the accident and was returning home from a dinner with soldiers in his unit.
His godfather, Lt. Col. Paul Fanning, also with the 42nd infantry, said that Parker would not have been drinking excessively at the dinner in his dress uniform, and that members of his unit said he was `very sober when he went home.`
Parker’s father, Mike, met Fanning in 1978 when the two were assigned to the same military unit. After realizing they lived in the same Clifton Park neighborhood, the two became friends.
`I’m extremely proud of my son that he chose a military career,` Mike Parker said. `He was absolutely devoted to his job and defending his country in Iraq and helping out the 42nd infantry without any questions.`
Fanning called the Parkers an all-American family.
`When I look back at this young guy and watching him go from childhood to manhood, it really was a very special experience,` Fanning said. `It was my first opportunity to be a godfather and turned out to be a really great thing for me.`
Some of the many awards Parker received from the military include an Army Commendation Medal, a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and an Army Achievement Medal, Second Award.
Donnelly, who was at the scene of the accident and had served in the same National Guard unit as Parker, said it was a terrible tragedy.
`It was very hard for me to see the dress uniform pieces all over the road and the uniform pieces cut in a bloody pile,` Donnelly said. `It’s very difficult to see something like that when you know the injuries are catastrophic. He goes to Iraq and survives all the dangers over there and returns here, and it’s just something routine like putting your seatbelt on.`
Fanning said that the soldiers gathered at the hospital on Sunday had planned to form an impromptu honor guard as his body was taken from intensive care to the surgical room where he became an organ donor. Due to Army regulations, the honor guard ended up not being possible.
`Even in death, Taylor kept on giving,` Wormuth said. `While we suffer and mourn and keep the family in our prayers, I think that’s their light, that even in his death, Taylor helped someone else.`
Parker left behind his parents, grandparents, three siblings, a girlfriend and many other friends and family ` an entire grieving community.
Regina Parker said that money can be donated to the Taylor A. Parker memorial fund at any Key Bank. It will go to support the new Halfmoon town recreational park.
`Taylor wanted his own children; he wanted to have children someday,` Regina Parker said. `And because he can’t have his own, he would want other children to be happy because of him.`
The Parkers also plan to form a TAP Foundation in his honor, which will be dedicated to children.
`Taylor donated organs and at least four people will have a second chance at life, and families won’t have to go through what we’re going through right now,` Regina Parker said. `It is what it is, but because of it there are so many wonderful things.“