Brett Wood Taylor

Member News

May 21, 2008

Sensei Brett Wood-Taylor Passes Away

USA Judo was saddened to learn on Monday of the passing of Brett Wood-Taylor (Fond du Lac, Wis.), an alternate to the 1980 Olympic Team and coach of the Welcome Mat Judo Club, at the age of 57 after a battle with cancer.

A judo player since the age of 5, Wood-Taylor would go on to become involved in all areas of the sport. As a coach, international level referee and President of Wisconsin Judo, Wood-Taylor was a lifetime member of USA Judo who continuously gave back to the sport he loved.

Visitation will be held from 4-7:30 p.m. on May 23 at Zacherl Funeral Home (next to Marion College), 875 E. Division St. in Fond du Lac and again on May 24 from 9 - 10 a.m.

Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. on May 24 at Holy Family Church, Highway 151 and 4th St. in Fond du Lac.

The following is a tribute to Wood-Taylor written by Kei Narimatsu (Chicago, Ill.)

IN MEMORIUM

BRETT WOOD-TAYLOR

1951 - 2008

So when your eulogy is being read

With your life’s action to rehash

Would you be proud of the things they say

About how you spent your dash?

Linda Ellis

The DASH by Linda Ellis was written in 1996. This poem has been a comfort to many folks over the years and I would like to give my interpretation of what this means to me. The dash or hyphen is used to connect words or syllables together. But in life, the dash represents the alpha and omega of one’s life, the beginning and end, the mark on a tombstone signifying birth and death. So what does this DASH mean? What does it mean in the continuum of one’s life – the time spent on this earth? What meaning, what importance, what value can we give this dash?

At birth, there is but innocence. A new hope for a full and useful life. A mother’s hope for a healthy, happy child, a father’s hope for a successful career, a grandparent’s hope for a new generation.

As we grow, our dash turns to education, careers, spouses, our own children. We are a measure of our accumulations of houses and cars, of activities and stuff. It is a measure of our so-called wealth or could be a measure of one’s self-indulgence.

As we pass the twilight of our years, we think less and less of those material things and think of our own mortality. We know we will not live forever and that our dash will soon be a dying flame in some distant memory.

But at the end of the day, we have to know that the dash is not a history book of material wealth because you can not take it with you. We hope that our dash has meaning and is meaningful to those we have touched, to those we have loved, to those who love us.

In that, Brett Wood-Taylor’s dash has been long and fruitful. A dash that has stretched the continent from California to New York, from Florida to Washington, finally ending up in Fond du Lac Wisconsin. He has touched hundreds and perhaps thousands of people, especially in his Judo career, as a competitor, as a coach, as a referee and most importantly as the Head Instructor of Welcome Mat Judo Club in Fond du Lac. The legacy he leaves, one can only hope to achieve a tenth of that accomplishment. In that, Brett has been wildly successful.

His unselfishness, his dedication to Judo and to his family, his generosity to those in greater need than himself is legend. His incomparable Santa’s laugh, driving all night to get ladder boards to Southern Illinois, his focus to attend meetings in Houston to make Judo better in the United States in spite of his illness, belies his fierce dedication and loyalty to the sport that taught him to be a man. In this regard, he was more than a little crazy. Crazy in a nice way, but crazy nonetheless.

Brett’s life cannot be summed up simply that he was a good man. Brett’s life was complicated. You could consider him a philosopher for the wisdom he imparted to his many students. He was a teacher of the physical person as well as a teacher of the spirit and mind. He was a wonderful companion to his wife, Margaret and a loving father to 5 kids, Terra, Genne, Chelsea, Brittany, and Brandon. He was a friend you could count on. His word was golden and if he promised something, consider it done. Generous to a fault, much of his income was spent on Judo, his club and students and on gifts to friends. It is just fortunate that Margaret was working all that time. Otherwise, I think they would have been in the poor house.

Brett’s life has been cut short much too soon. He was only 57, not even three score. But his legacy will follow him in the type of judoka’s we all become because we knew him, because of his wisdom, his loyalty and his friendship. If he taught us anything, it is that loyalty is a virtue that cannot be entrusted to just anyone. It must be earned and it must be sought. It must be embedded in your core and you must wear it always. It cannot be bought or sold. It cannot be abused or ill-treated. For in the end, loyalty defines your character, your honesty, your soul. Brett Wood-Taylor has shown his loyalty to all who have been privileged know him.

So at the end of his DASH, I say GOODBYE. Goodbye seems so final, and perhaps it is. And while it is a traditional parting phrase, it means “GOD BE WITH YE”. So, Brett, God be with ye, my friend. Goodbye and safe travel.

In friendship and love, your friend always,

Kei Narimatsu

The DASH – by Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak

At the funeral of a friend.

He referred to the dates on her tombstone

From the beginning to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth

And spoke of the following date with tears,

But he said what mattered most of all

Was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time

That she spent alive on earth

And now only those who loved her

Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not how much we own,

The cars, the house, the cash,

What matters is how we live and love

And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard;

Are there things you’d like to change?

For you never know how much time is left

That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough

To consider what’s true and real

And always try to understand

The way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger

And show appreciation more

And love the people in our lives

Like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect

And more often wear a smile,

Remembering that this special dash

Might only last awhile.

So when your eulogy is being read

With your life’s action to rehash

Would you be proud of the things they say

About how you spent your dash?