Six months today

This is the obituary I wrote for my nephew, back in March. Seems important to have it here…

Taylen Robert Claude Brooks, March 3, 2003-March 23, 2024

Taylen Robert Claude Brooks gave his life defending his brother Wyatt and himself from a mountain lion attack near Georgetown, California, on March 23, 2024.

The natural bond between the two was made stronger by the time they spent together in the great outdoors, hunting deer and turkey in season, casting for bass and trout all summer long. They lived that rarest of things in the modern era, what Teddy Roosevelt called The Strenuous Life. They ate what they bagged, and at times, bagged entirely what they ate. Right down to roasted pigeons and squirrel fricassee.

Their wonder at nature didn’t end there—at the time of the incident that took Taylen’s life, the brothers were on a National Forest Service road searching for fallen deer antlers, another pastime they shared together every spring. Taylen in particular was a master at spotting the truly difficult finds, the nubs and spikes way down deep in the grass and duff. He had an eye for the subtle, for the signs of the creatures that weren’t yet spectacular, but one day would be.

He also had an ear, for music. When he wasn’t immersed in the outdoors, Taylen was immersed in the guitar. Self-taught from a ridiculously young age, he had an intuitive understanding of how to play almost instantly what he’d just heard, no matter how technical it might be to a seasoned pro, or how impossible to the rest of us. He had speed, he had timing, he had dexterity. Like it was nothing. Van Halen and Pink Floyd, Nirvana and Pearl Jam—if he heard it, he learned it, incredibly quickly, and he could play it right back…like it was nothing. If he’d eventually wound up at Madison Square Garden, or the Royal Albert Hall, nobody would have been surprised.

Taylen grew up in the mountain foothills and vineyard country of southern El Dorado County. He attended Pioneer Elementary School and Mountain Creek Middle School in Somerset, California, and graduated from Union Mine High School in El Dorado, California, in 2022. In addition to his guitar chops, he was noted among his classmates for being caring, compassionate, and kind.

He worked with his dad, Aaron, painting houses and cutting firewood. He also planned to pursue a license to operate heavy equipment—although he might well have become a bona fide guitar hero first.

Taylen is survived by his mother, Amanda Welsh; his father and stepmother, Aaron and Stacy (Merrill) Brooks; sister Sydney and brothers Wyatt and D.J.; stepfather Keith Smith; grandparents Curtis and Marie Brooks of Granbury, Texas; Charlie and Laura Callahan of Savannah,Tennessee; Jeff and LaVon Stewart of Sacramento, California; Gordon and June Merrill of Mount Aukum, California; Craig and Karen Smith of Fallon, Nevada;and a passel of aunts, uncles, cousins and close family friends who continue to love Taylen, and will always cherish him.  

Taylen went to Heaven far too soon, but his immense bravery remains a legacy for eternity. He’s a hero to all who had the pleasure to know him, and he’s a legend to the entire world.