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‘He was our Superman’ By Buffy Pollock Updated: Aug 26, 2022 05:06 PM A A Firefighter Logan Taylor remembered for humble kindness Captain Ben Kennedy, with Jackson County Fire District 3, from left, Junior Osorio and Collin Lee, District 3 firefighters, stand in honor Friday of fallen firefighter Logan Taylor, 25, at Perl Funeral Home & Siskiyou Memorial Park in Medford. [Jamie Lusch / Mail Tribune] Family members of fallen firefighter Logan Taylor said an outpouring of support from the Southern Oregon community has helped ease some of the pain his loved ones have endured since the 25-year-old died Aug. 18 after being struck by a tree while fighting the Rum Creek Fire in Josephine County. The owner and operator of Sasquatch Reforestation, Taylor grew up in the Rogue Valley, and was a 2015 Phoenix High graduate. Taylor was on contract with Oregon Department of Forestry and fighting fire in the area north of Galice when he was critically injured last Thursday afternoon. Jackson County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue deployed a helicopter and personnel to the fire and airlifted Taylor out of the mountainous terrain to an awaiting Mercy Flights helicopter, transporting him to Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries. Those closest to him remember a blue-eyed boy, once donning a Superman costume, and always, from a young age, having a caring nature and love of all things outdoors. News of Taylor’s death prompted an immediate outpouring from the region at large. Firefighters from various agencies, including Bureau of Land Management and ODF, have stayed with Taylor’s body as part of an “honor watch,” facilitated by the Oregon Fire Service Honor Guard since Monday at Medford’s Perl Funeral Home. Taylor’s memorial is set for 10 a.m. Monday at the Harry & David stadium at Lithia & Driveway Fields, formerly known as U.S. Cellular Community Park. Stadium use was donated by the Medford Rogues baseball team. Gov. Kate Brown ordered all flags at public institutions be flown at half-staff from sunrise to sunset Monday in Taylor’s honor. Owner of Sasquatch Reforestation, Taylor likely would have been first to volunteer to sit vigil for a fellow firefighter or to comfort family members of the fallen, said his sister Kiara Mitchell. Mitchell, of Central Point, said her baby brother would have been “beyond grateful” for the community’s embrace of his loved ones in response to his death. Forestry, Mitchell said, was a family tradition and part of who he was. “Our dad — he worked with Logan — has been a forester his whole life. My dad’s dad and my great-grampa were foresters, as well. The rest of our family has all been loggers and trappers, some type of outdoorsman,” she said, noting that Logan grew up going to work with his father and grandfather. “The wildland firefighter thing was just a part of it all. It went along with doing things like thinning and marking trees for logging companies, marking trees to save, climbing trees to pick cones — for seeds — to plant baby trees from. It was a good career path but a dangerous one.” Mitchell said her brother was an anchor for his extended family and would “do anything that anybody would ask of him.” Taylor once briefly left his girlfriend’s birthday dinner to help his brother-in-law pack a deer out of the woods. “He had a kindness about him from the moment he was born. I remember he left the dinner because my husband called and said he couldn’t pack his deer out by himself. My husband is a really strong guy, but my brother was just so big and strong that he basically carried the deer up the hill by himself,” Mitchell remembered. “So many times he would stack hay for me without me even asking. I think he probably spent 20 hours a day trying to keep people happy. When he was little, he knew that our mom liked the mud pies from Applebee’s, so he would go out in the backyard and make them for her because he thought it was the same thing.” Maurine Stack, Mitchell’s mother-in-law, said in the decade or more she had known Taylor, he was always first to step up when help was needed. “I remember he would be over at my place, and I’d ask one of my boys to do something or say, ‘Hey, could you do this or fix that for me?’ Logan would be the first one to jump up and say, ‘I’ll do it. It’s no problem!’” Stack said. “And you’d have to force him to take any kind of payment or thanks, no matter how big of a favor you’d asked.” Taylor’s aunt, Amber Walker of Central Point, said it sounded almost cliché to try and describe Taylor’s selfless nature. “He was an amazing person. Very kind. I know everybody says those kinds of things about their family member, but he was just exceptional,” Walker said. “Every time I talked to him, I felt like I really have never known somebody who was so kindhearted and so genuine and really interested in what was going on in your life. He was just so warm and kind always, very much a family person and a gentle soul.” Walker’s daughter, Taylor’s cousin Brandy Buckner, remembered Taylor dressed as Superman one Halloween. “He had those piercing blue eyes. He looked like Clark Kent. He really was our Superman,” Buckner said. Added Walker, “For him to go out as a hero, what were the odds? It really helps to know that he died with such honor. I know that gives his mom a lot of peace.” Perl Funeral Home manager Gene Drake said the 24-7 vigil of firefighters — from both wildland agencies and station-based firefighters and even some state-level fire officials — had made a profound statement on all who witnessed the gesture. “It has been day and night since Monday. It’s very touching. We’ve never had it happen here before to this level,” Drake said. “There’s a table set up with his picture and a candle, and they all just have sat there quietly. It’s a very moving way to honor him, but I would imagine they all feel very honored to have the chance to pay tribute to him in this way.” Mitchell said well-wishes from friends and the community — and the gesture by fellow firefighters around the state — have meant the most. “Just a simple guy,” Taylor would not have been one for “all the fuss” and recognition, Mitchell said. “There has been a lot of attention and people wanting information, but to know the firefighters have all taken turns to stay there with him, and not leave him alone, means so much to my gramma and to our whole family,” Mitchell said. “We were so touched by that and so grateful to see them do that. It’s been very emotional.” She added, “I know he would think anything was way too much. He really was a simple, goodhearted guy. I think he would feel special just to know that his fellow firefighters came together to show their support and that the community was rallying around our family.” Mitchell said GoFundMe donations would be used for final expenses and go to Taylor’s mom in addition to helping his family decide what to do with his reforestation business. Born Jan. 11, 1997, Logan Harrison Taylor is survived by girlfriend Maika Sallee, father Jerome Taylor, mother Kim Palmer, stepfather Ronald Palmer, sister Kiara Leandre Mitchell and brother-in-law Tanner Mitchell. He also leaves behind grandparents Linda Oldland, Ben Taylor and Robert and Donna Day, uncles Lynn Taylor and John Mayben, stepbrothers Derek, Josh and Ryan and countless aunts, uncles, cousins and close friends. Cards for Taylor’s family can be sent to: Oregon Department of Forestry, Southwest Oregon District, 5286 Table Rock Road, Central Point, OR 97502. A gofundme account has been set up to help the family defray costs of Taylor’s funeral. As of Friday afternoon, the campaign had raised $18,070. To donate, https://biturl.top/Mnm2au Reach Mail Tribune reporter Buffy Pollock at 541-776-8784 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal