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Monday, 21 December 2009 |
 Lights adorn the house of Helen Taylor in Benton for the Chrostmas season. The lights and decorations extend “as far as the yard will allow.”
Helen Taylor has decorated her home at the corner of Neely Street and Columbia Street for the last couple of years. The tradition began two years ago and with the help of her husband, they strung Christmas lights as far as their property line would allow.
“She’s got a yardful,” said her son, Gene Capps. “They’re all over the house, down across the house and all the way down the side of the house by Columbia Street,” he added.
But, tragedy struck at the start of the year when Taylor lost her husband of 20 years to cancer. Then, in April, her best friend passed away. And the week of Thanksgiving, her mother died as well.
“She and her best friend would often take trips together and they would talk on the phone at least two or three times a day,” Capps said.
These tragedies may have dampened Taylor’s spirits some, but they did not keep her from continuing her light tradition. Taylor puts up the all the lights around her yard and her brother Andy Capps strung the lights on the house.
“(The lights) have always been something for her and her husband to do together. But, her main initiative is the grand kids. (My sister Rose and I) are getting too old to mess with that kind of stuff,” Gene Capps said.
Taylor has three grandchildren; two boys and one girl. They range in age from 4 years of age to nine months.
“They just think the lights are a marvelous thing,” Capps said. He said the decorations don’t stop at the front door either; his mother has a snow village and a toy train-set up in the house. “They just have a blast when they go over there,” he added.
Once Christmas is over, Taylor will start scouring the sale racks to add to her lights display for next year. Capps said she’ll start planning by next summer.
And while she enjoys the visits from her grandchildren, a smile crosses her face when vehicles drive by and look at her display.
“She sits there an night and sees people slow down to look at her lights. She thinks that’s really nice,” Capps said.
Taylor’s lights can be found at 522 Neely Street in Benton and she encourages viewers of her display.
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