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by Amanda Hewitt
"[Mrs. Taylor] has an impact on whomever she comes in contact with. She doesn't back down from sharing Christ."
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After Seven Years, Linda Taylor Finds A Home
Linda Taylor has worked at Multnomah for 22 years helping students find jobs.
-- Amanda Hewitt, photo
Many modern women spend the first years out of their parents' house finding a job, getting an apartment, gaining independence, and finally settling down years later. Mrs. Taylor, however, chose to settle down at age 18. At age 63 she did something most women do in their 20s--she put her name on an apartment application.
Mrs. Taylor and her husband came to Multnomah after Dr. Joseph Aldrich, their pastor in California, invited them to help at the school. Mrs. Taylor immediately went to work in the student employment department, and Mr. Taylor worked in campus services.
After the death of her husband in 1988, Mrs. Taylor said she spent nine years "deciding what to be when I grew up."
Before working as a nanny and as a secretary, Mrs. Taylor spent three years caring for her mother.
In 1994, Mrs. Taylor could no longer provide her mom with the level of care she needed and placed her into a foster care home, where she passed away in 1996.
What Mrs. Taylor did next changed the course of her life forever. She asked God what he wanted her to do and told him she would go anywhere.
Soon after her prayer, the woman who had taken care of Mrs. Taylor's mom called with a job offer.
The woman wanted to know if Mrs. Taylor would be willing to live with her and help her in the evenings in exchange for room and board. Mrs. Taylor said she could move in for six months as a caregiver.
"From then on, the Lord just supplied more homes for me to move into," she said.
Mrs. Taylor became almost nomadic, living in the homes of friends and family in between her jobs as a caregiver. Since 1997, she's lived in seven houses--none of which were hers.
In each home, she would buy groceries, cook evening meals, and act as a caregiver in exchange for room and board.
One day, Mrs. Taylor heard about a home for unwed mothers. The 5,500-square-foot home had six bedrooms and housed up to four pregnant women at a time. Mrs. Taylor didn't see the house until the day she moved in. "It was just gorgeous, my mansion here on earth," she said.
Although some of the seven women she helped claimed to believe in God, they were trying to avoid having a relationship with Him.
Mrs. Taylor hoped she could show these women a love for Christ that they often hadn't seen before.
"[Mrs. Taylor] has an impact on whomever she comes in contact with. She doesn't back down from sharing Christ," Erma Wolever, Multnomah's director of human resources, said.
"If they needed me, I was there. I didn't push my beliefs on anyone unless they wanted to hear them," Mrs. Taylor said.
One girl came off the streets and said immediately that she didn't want to hear any of that "Jesus stuff." The volunteers obliged, but every Sunday, Mrs. Taylor went to church.
Because girls weren't allowed in the house without a volunteer present, they all found a place to go during the hours volunteers were in church. After about four months, the routine was getting old for some of them.
One Sunday the girl who wanted nothing to do with Jesus came downstairs carrying a pillow and a blanket. "What are you doing with those?" Mrs. Taylor asked. The girl wanted to know if she could sleep in the car.
"I'm taking the car to church," Mrs. Taylor said.
The girl replied, "I know." She slept in the car during the service.
The next Sunday, the girl came downstairs, this time without a pillow or blanket. She had decided she would go into the church with Mrs. Taylor but asked whether it was one of those "huggy, kissy churches." Mrs. Taylor said it wasn't, and the two proceeded into the sanctuary.
During the meet-and-greet time, the girl kept a careful eye on everyone, making sure no one got too close. Just as she was starting to get comfortable, Mrs. Taylor reached over and hugged the girl.
"I thought you said this wasn't a huggy kind of place," the girl said.
"It's not," Mrs. Taylor replied. "But I am."
In the next weeks, the girl decided she would occasionally attend Mrs. Taylor's church. She also decided to give up her baby for adoption.
The girl is now back on the streets, living in an abandoned house with no running water. Mrs. Taylor hopes to remain in contact with her. "I really do love that girl," she said.
In 2004, Mrs. Taylor underwent knee replacement surgery and had to move out. With nothing to her name but a bedroom set and a chair, Mrs. Taylor will move into an apartment this month where she won't be taking care of anyone but herself.
Mrs. Taylor has received several donations for her new apartment, including a wicker table, some chairs, and various other items. She does not have a loveseat but is in the market for one.
Mrs. Taylor has always had a place to stay, "and it wasn't under the Burnside Bridge," she said. Now, for the first time in years, she will have a place to call "home."
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