‘So much more than a house’: Widow, kids of North Ogden Mayor Brent Taylor receive new home

Jennie Taylor will never forget the surprise offer, delivered with a knock at her old house.

It was December 2018, and when she answered, she saw her real estate agent standing with Jed and Bruce Nilson of Nilson Homes. Together, they wanted to build Taylor a new home.

Her husband, former North Ogden mayor and Utah National Guard Maj. Brent Taylor, had been killed in action barely a month before. Their house at the time, Taylor thought to herself, was the place where her children held memories of their father, where she still felt the presence of her husband. She told the Nilsons thanks, but no thanks.

Months went by, and eventually, Taylor realized that their old house wasn’t the right fit for her and her seven children. She took the Nilsons up on their previous offer.

And on Thursday, the family stood before their newly-completed home.

“I’m grateful to Brent for his service and the legacy that he’s left us,” Taylor said at the home dedication. “Almost every beautiful thing in our lives right now is because of him and his service. Opportunities like this home behind me, the car I drive, the travel opportunities I have to speak or interact with other veterans or military members around the world. It’s all because I fell in love with a man who loves a country that I’ve loved since I was a little kid.”

Moving in, and making plans

The house is located on 1.5-acre North Ogden property that Jennie and Brent Taylor had bought together years prior. The five-bedroom, 5,070 square-foot home is the result of a collaboration between Have A Heart, a project launched in 1998 by the Northern Wasatch Association of Realtors that has resulted in the construction of 35 homes, and Nilson Homes.

The Taylor family’s new house sits at the end of a cul-de-sac. All the windows within face the mountains, which Taylor added are also etched onto Brent Taylor’s gravestone.

Immediately after entering the house, a room displays Brent Taylor’s uniform, honors and souvenirs from his travels in military service, along with a painted portrait of the Taylor family.

The family has already begun making plans for when they officially move in. Jennie Taylor hopes to use the spacious living room for gatherings of friends and family. She plans to install trampolines and aerial silks for her daughter, who is a “circus star.” The house already features a movie theater, a game room complete with air hockey and foosball, and a home gym space.

“When you talk about who has a huge debt to pay to America, and the soldiers who lay down their lives for us, I feel like my kids and I have pretty unpayable debt to pay to all of you and everyone else who has kept us on our feet for almost four years now,” Taylor said Thursday.

Experience sparks new initiative from developer

Nilson Homes reached out to their committee, trade partners, subcontractors and suppliers to ask for donations to build the Taylors’ new home, Jed Nilson said Thursday. He called the resulting generosity “outrageous,” and reported that donations for the project, including materials and labor, reached six figures.

Building the Taylor family’s new home, Nilson said, has inspired a new initiative within Nilson Homes.

“We now want to build one of these homes every single year and build one of them in our communities and greatly discount them for veterans that have either families of veterans who have passed away or veterans who are struggling,” Nilson said.

Many veterans face mental health concerns or economic hardship as they return from military service. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has estimated that over 40,000 veterans experience homelessness in America on any given night. While veterans comprise only 7% of the national population, almost 13% of adults experiencing homelessness are veterans.

Last year, nine of the 117 Utahns who died while experiencing homelessness were veterans.

“Nothing makes me happier than to know that Nilson will continue this tradition and help other families,” Taylor said.

Jennie Taylor has made it her mission to serve military families in Utah and across the country. She currently serves as Utah’s Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army and works on the Top of Utah Military Affairs Committee for the Weber and Davis Chambers of Commerce.

Taylor founded the Major Brent Taylor Foundation after her husband’s death, which provides training, community service and scholarship opportunities for high school students.

“I’ll always forever be grateful that we have this house and a roof over our heads. But this is so much more than a house,” Taylor said. “This, to me, is symbolism of God’s hand and Brent’s hand continuing in our lives.”

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