|
Wednesday,
December 08, 2004
By Jackie
Day
Ironworkers
at Century Steel Erectors named the 275-ton crane on the
construction site of the Port Authority parking garage
at South Hills Village "The Dude."
But that wasn't enough for their continuing
tribute to co-worker J.R. Taylor, 43, the field
superintendent who died just before they began the
parking garage project in June. Taylor died in an
accident while doing yard work. The nickname was
soon followed by a 30-foot banner draped across
the derrick on Fort Couch Road that read "In
memory of our friend and brother J.R. Taylor --
the Dude."
Darlaine
Taylor, J.R.'s sister and vice president of the
family business, said the banner created quite a
stir.
Passers-by
on the heavily traveled road would call the
company inquiring about who exactly was this J.R.,
and workers from other job sites continue to vie
for the banner now that the Port Authority project
is complete. The banner was taken down Friday.
"There
isn't a day that goes by that we don't think about
him," crane operator Stan Indyk said.
"He was real good at using the term 'dude.'
"
It
was Indyk and foreman Rich Kirich who initiated
the banner memorial to their friend from Century
Steel, a Dravosburg company started in 1983 by
Taylor's father, Donn Taylor.
Century
employs more than 300 ironworkers, boilermakers
and operating engineers. The firm has worked on
projects that include Heinz Field, Hillman Cancer
Center in Shadyside and South Pointe.
The
memorials continue. Now, co-workers and friends
have joined the Taylor family in their plan to
have the long-awaited pedestrian bridge on the
Montour Trail in Bethel Park, where they once
lived, built in his name.
|
|
 |
 |
|
Tony
Tye, Post-Gazette
At the construction site of the
Port Authority's South Hills Village
garage, Richard Kirich, left,
ironworker foreman, and Stan Indyk,
crane operator, stand next to a sign
honoring J.R. Taylor, who died in an
accident while doing yard work just
before garage construction began.
Taylor was the son of the president of
Century Steel Erectors. |
|
"To have a bridge named after him is
perfect," Darlaine Taylor said.
"He's an ironworker, and he always
wanted us to come back home to work."
The
trail council, along with The Bethel Park
Friends of the Montour Trail, has sought to
bridge the gap in the trail by way of a
pedestrian bridge over Clifton Road for many
years.
Their
goal was not only to connect the missing
link in the trail, but also to facilitate a
safe access for pupils of Washington
Elementary School who cross Clifton Road.
Because
the property there is owned by the
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation,
the bridge must meet class 1 highway bridge
standards, said Rubbie Greenewald,
construction manager at Century and for the
J.R. Taylor Memorial Bridge project.
That
means it will take "a lot of money to
build," somewhere in the neighborhood
of $800,000, he said.
The
trail council was receptive when approached
by the Taylor family, members of which
offered to help fund the bridge and provide
manpower, equipment and machinery.
Plans
for the bridge have yet to be approved. But
the Taylors have raised more than $80,000
for it. Nearly 200 motorcycle riders turned
out for a tailgate party and bike run in
September which raised $65,000.
Jon
Richard Taylor is survived by his wife,
Joyce, and daughters Jennifer, 24; Jessica,
20; Dakotah, 14, and step-daughter, Brittni,
14.
"He
was really well loved. We will miss him
unbelievably," said Darlaine Taylor.
"The guys keep expecting him to drive
up, jump out of his truck and say,
"Dude! Are you ever going to get done
here?"
|
