Jennie Taylor, Widow of Utah Mayor Killed in Afghanistan, Says on CNN Her Family Remains Grateful on Thanksgiving

Jennie Taylor lost her husband just two weeks ago. She is the mother of seven children, and her husband, Brent Taylor, was killed while serving his country in Kabul, Afghanistan. Mrs. Taylor was there when his remains were brought back home, his flag-draped coffin delivered from abroad and landing on American soil on election day.

Brent Taylor was a Major, deployed with the National Guard in Afghanistan. He was killed by small arms fire. Shot, over there. But he served here at home too, as Mayor of North Ogden, Utah, about 45 miles north of Salt Lake City. The public servant, warrior, husband, and dad was 39 years old. The couple’s youngest child just 11 months.

Mrs. Taylor spoke that morning before press cameras, telling Americans it was fitting that he should arrive on the day of an election, because the practice of democracy and exercise of freedom was so important to him.

Today she spoke again, this time with CNN’S Alisyn Camerota, on the day before Thanksgiving. And though she has so much to mourn, and so much pain to bear, she remains thankful.

Maj. Taylor’s funeral was Saturday. Camerota asked first how the family was coping just a few days later.

Mrs. Taylor said they are still in shock. Her husband had been deployed over 9 months already, and wasn’t set to return home until January.

“In a lot of moments, it feels like he’s just not back yet, and soon he’ll be boarding a plane and come back and get back to being mayor, get back to being dad, get back to being husband, get back to running our little farm in the backyard,” she said, “and so sometimes we, I think it escapes us that this is real.”

Camerota and Mrs. Taylor spoke at length about the significance of his return on election day, as the widow explained her husband’s strong belief in the democratic process, how real and immediate it was to him while deployed in Afghanistan. “For him, it was an honor to serve among these Afghan people who are fighting so hard for their own country,” she said. “He just admired them, and their tenacity, and their desire to have the freedoms that we so often take for granted here in our country.”

“So Jennie tomorrow is Thanksgiving,” said Camerota. “What will you tell your children about what happened to their dad.”

Taylor said the children have heard so much in the last three weeks, that they’ve been involved in the conversations and heard those who admired him and loved him and miss him.

“We always come back to how grateful we are. You know Thanksgiving is a day of gratitude, it’s a day of reflection, our hearts are full,” she said. “Our hearts are broken, but our hearts are full.”

She said they’re revisit their grief over and over as the children grow up and hit milestones in their lives, that they’ll grieve again over the loss of a parent in each of those moments.

“But we’re also very open in our faith, and our belief that Brent is still with us, he’s in our hearts, we have his memory, we have his legacy,” she said. “We may not have his physical body, but his physical body has been away from us a lot, in our marriage and my children’s young lives. And they’ve always known that Brent loves them, that he adores them, that he would and has given his life for them.”

“We’ll make sure that on Thanksgiving and every day, that’s what we talk about when we remember their dad.”

Watch the clip above, courtesy of CNN.

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