From left, Kim Taylor, daughter Sarah, and James Young sing at The Ridge church in February 2020. Kim says Sarah had a gift for finding the creative gifts in other young people, and furthering that is part of the purpose of raising an old barn at their home.
Photo provided
HOPE — A Hauser Jr.-Sr. High School student whose life was cut short by cancer in September 2020 continues to inspire, and her spirit is giving rise to something old and new in her community — a century-old barn her parents plan to reconstruct at their home to further her legacy by benefiting local teens.
Even years after Sarah Taylor died from osteosarcoma at age 15, the home of her parents, Kim and Chad Taylor, has remained a welcoming gathering spot for students who join in occasional Friday night “Fire & Music” events. Around an outdoor fire, teens gather, play music, games, worship and enjoy special times with friends.
“Sometimes we ended up having about 50 kids at these Friday night gatherings,” Kim said, noting the activities are student-led. “It’s a great safe space for a beginner musician to kind of learn to play with other people.”
It’s also a place where young people are encouraged to find their creative gifts — something Kim, production manager at The Ridge church, said Sarah had a knack for encouraging.
But the Friday night fires tend to fizzle during cold-weather months. So when a farm family friend that Chad has known since high school in nearby Decatur County had a barn he planned to burn because it was too small for modern equipment, a different idea sparked for the Taylors.
With their friend’s agreement — and help — and guided by a structural engineer, they began dismantling the barn, piece by piece, in January. Their plan — to transport it to the Taylors’ home a stone’s throw from Hauser, and then rebuild it, piece by piece, insulate it, update it, and christen a place where the beloved “Fire & Music” nights — or events like them for local teens — could happen year ‘round.
“It’s a fun one, it’s a big one,” said Chad, an HVAC contractor with Central Sheet Metal in Columbus. But he’s quick to note that he feels something larger has been moving this project along.
“We have some really fun God stories” about how things have worked out to make relocating the barn possible, Chad said. “He’s building the building, and I get to be part of it.”
Chad noted, for instance, that when sections of old wood from the barn have proven rotten or unusable, another source has appeared with offers of timber that were just the right fit — even massive 8-by-8 beams weighing hundreds of pounds. Somehow, he said, things like this just keep happening. Kim also notes the size of the barn just happens to perfectly fit their property and their plans.
Among those who have offered a hand, material, or otherwise helped out has been Mike Morrow, operations director and a longtime pastor at The Ridge. Chad said Morrow volunteered his expertise as a craftsman to first make drawings of how the big posts and beams would fit back together. But he wasn’t satisfied, so he then built a scale replica detailing how each marked timber will rise again to frame the structure.
On the Taylors’ 2-acre place, the site for the new old barn is prepared, concrete has been poured, and the family hopes to begin raising timbers in the coming weeks. On an ambitious schedule, Chad says they may get the barn under roof before winter. Then he takes a moment to marvel with admiration at the thought of farmers more than a century ago raising the original barn with simple hand tools and none of today’s heavy equipment or modern conveniences.
“We just hope it becomes a cozy, warm, inviting space for kids to come together and gather,” Kim said, reeling off lists of possibilities for the space. But the focus will be on encouraging creativity, whether music, art, writing, videography or some other endeavor.
“We know the therapeutic benefits of that for mental health,” she said. “We just want to keep pouring that into kids as they find out the ways they are gifted. … The possibilities are really endless with this space.”
“It’s going to be a place for teenagers to come to have fun, to learn about God, to encounter who He is,” Chad said. “Just a safe place where they can do that.”
Kim notes that among those who’ve helped are “a lot of very skilled young adults who have a heart for this, too, and really appreciate the heritage and what we’re trying to do, saving this old barn.”
And while giving new life and purpose to a more than 100-year-old barn is a work in progress, Kim said the project also given the family a new connection to home, community and their daughter’s legacy.
“We’re pretty certain that this is our life’s mission,” she said.
