A couple of weeks ago, Pike County Coroner David Rashad Taylor was the speaker at the McComb Rotary Club’s meeting. I don’t think anybody expected his listeners to be so attentive.
Taylor was comfortable discussing his job as the elected official who is responsible for reviewing medical records and other information to determine a cause of death when someone in Pike County passes away. This assignment can be more difficult when someone dies in a homicide or something like an auto accident.
His Rotary audience had plenty of questions — as many as any speaker has ever fielded. Honestly, a lot more than I ever suspected a coroner would have to answer. You would have thought Taylor was a U.S. senator.
They wanted to know how quickly he or his deputy coroners responds when a death is reported. (Taylor or one of his two deputy coroners, Oliver James and Shelton Davis, are on call 24 hours a day. They're usually on the scene within half an hour.)
They wondered what it takes for the state medical examiner to get involved in a death examination. (An autopsy is required when a death is a homicide, and in other cases the medical examiner's involvement depends on several factors.)
They asked how long it takes to complete a death certificate or an autopsy report. (Six to eight weeks for a death certificate, sometimes sooner. But an autopsy report takes longer.)
And this: Has anyone awakened after being pronounced dead?
“Please don’t put one of those on me,” Taylor remarked. “I’ve heard of it before, in Jackson or somewhere up north. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.”
Somebody even asked Taylor’s height. The former basketball and football player is 6 feet, 9 inches tall.
But the best moment was when Clifton Van Cleave commended Taylor for doing a difficult job well. Everyone, including Taylor, took that as the cue to end the meeting and applauded as he walked back to his seat.
Not so fast. Several people told him they had more questions, and for the first time that I can recall, a Rotary speaker delivered an encore. Taylor went back to the microphone and answered questions for another 10 or 15 minutes.
Though this is his first term as coroner, Taylor has a lifetime of experience in the business of death.
His grandfather, C.D. Westbrook, started what is now Cook’s Enterprise Funeral Home about 75 years ago. Westbrook’s widow Viola ran the business after her husband passed away. Then Taylor’s father, Otis “Pete” Taylor, took over until his death in 2013. His widow Joyce now runs it. The coroner is still involved in the business but said his focus is on his elected job.
One thing Taylor discussed at Rotary was an information sheet he created for families when someone dies.
“It tells you what you need for whichever funeral home you use,” he said. “And another form I created is for the funeral homes, so when they come together, they have everything they need.”
He got the idea from dealing with families at the funeral home.
“When they came in, they would say they didn’t know what the next step is,” he said. “I wanted to eliminate that. I wanted them to know.”
Taylor praised his staff for their willingness to work whenever they’re called.
In addition to James and Davis, the coroner’s office has a two-person “transport team” of June Adams and Keon Daniels.
They drive a body out of town, usually to the state medical examiner’s office. Taylor said each has a converted SUV that they use for the task.
He also mentioned another transporter, Isaac Smith, who had been on the job for a long time but has passed away.
