Body of soldier slain in Kansas comes home to Wheatfield

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Jerry Wyrobek salutes as the procession returning U.S. Army Sgt. Ronald Evans Taylor home passes along State Rd. 110 Thursday afternoon. Wyrobek and his wife Trish are both veterans of the Army. | Jeffrey D. Nicholls~Sun-Times Media

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Updated: January 23, 2012 4:17AM

WHEATFIELD — Residents from this small rural community of 853 braved the wind and rain Thursday to pay tribute to one of their own, Sgt. Ronald Evans Taylor.

They waited, American flags in hand, at the end of driveways separated by acres of partially harvested corn and soybeans along Indiana 10, in the parking lot of the lone shopping center and along the main downtown drag Grove Street, as a procession of vehicles brought the slain soldier home.

The tragedy of how Taylor, 28, — a combat medic who survived two tours of duty in Iraq — lost his life here on American soil at the hands of an unknown gunman was a shock.

“He was a good friend of mine,” said Roger Wampler of Wheatfield.

“It’s heart-crushing,” added his wife Jennifer, who was holding her son Damien, 3. The couple saw Taylor during his most recent visit home and recalled how much he was looking forward to coming home to be with his own young son, Riley, 5.

Taylor, who returned from his second tour in Iraq early for medical reasons, was stationed at Fort Riley, Kan. He was shot and killed Oct. 14 by an unknown assailant in Ogden, Kan., just a couple blocks from his off-base home. He was in the process of being medically discharged from the military and was expected to return to Wheatfield in November.

Sheri Griede of Wheatfield, Taylor’s mother-in-law, said it is hard to grasp Taylor’s fate.

“It’s like it didn’t happen. My heart goes out to his family,” she said. Her daughter, Amanda, is holding up as best as she can under the circumstances. The family is trying to protect Riley from the brutal reality of the situation as much as possible.

Griede said she thinks about Taylor’s mother and the incredible pain she must feel losing her son so close to the time he was expected to return home for good.

“It makes you think about losing your own kids. My heart goes out to all of them. A lot of prayers have gone out for them,” Griede said.

C.J. Goss of Wheatfield was another of Taylor’s friends. Her friend Katy Mills and their daughters Madison, 4 and Maddie, 5, joined her to pay respects at the roadside.

“I didn’t know him, but it’s just the right thing to do,” Mills said.

Goss, whose daughter is just two weeks apart in age from Riley, said the loss is tragic for everybody. The little boy, she said, is a spitting image of his dad.

“He was a father, a serviceman, a brother, a son. He was so much. He fought over there for us and to come back for this to happen, it’s tragic,” Goss said.

Taylor was born in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., into a military family and had last resided in Wheatfield where he graduated from Kankakee Valley High School prior to enlisting in the U.S. Army as a medic X-ray technician. He served two tours of duty in Iraq supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

He is survived by his son, Riley Evans Taylor; parents, Lt. Col. Allison and Richard Keeley; sister, Tiffany Graf; and brothers Alexander and Hans, among other relatives and friends.

Visitation for Taylor is planned from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at Boersma Funeral Home, 90 E. Grove St., in Wheatfield. Funeral services will immediately follow the visitation at Boersma.