NMU Alumnus Killed on 9/11 Remembered During Ceremony

On a windy morning 25 years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, NMU held a ceremony in honor of those killed that day, paying special tribute to 1985 alumnus Lt. Col. Kip Taylor, who died when hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.

Taylor was one of 120 people in the building who died that day, in addition to 64 people on the aircraft.

Major Jeffrey Woleben, department head and assistant professor of Military Science, spoke during the ceremony, which took place at Veteran's Rock near the Northern Center, highlighting Taylor's devotion to family life.

"He commented to everybody that would listen to him that the best part of his life by far was his marriage to his wife, Nancy, and the recent birth of their son, Dean," Woleben said, adding the couple was expecting a second child at the time of Taylor's death.

On the day of the attacks, Taylor found himself reflecting on family life and emailed friends that morning about how transformative fatherhood had been for him.

"After kids, there are days that just get going when you say, 'Honey, I'm home," Taylor wrote. "My conclusion is that what we do until that moment pales in comparison to what we do after that point in the day."

Six weeks after 9/11, Taylor's second son, Luke, was born. Tragedy struck the family again when his wife, Nancy, died of breast cancer just two years later. The boys were adopted by their uncle and aunt.

The ceremony ended with a prayer from Rev. Jim Martindale of St. John's Epsicopal Church in Negaunee.

"I want us to also remember the lives of those individuals, because that's what we're truly celebrating, the lives that were lost, and ultimately what we lost as a country and communities by their absence," he said. "Also, during this day, while we take moments of silence and use it to reflect, I invite everybody to reflect upon the need that we all have to put good into the world, your service to our communities and to our fellow men, and ensure that we never let evil foment in its place."

After graduating from NMU, Taylor earned his Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. His key military assignments included his position as the executive officer to the U.S. Army Regional Personnel Center in Nuremberg, Germany; the doctrine and curriculum developer at the Fort Ben Harrison, Indiana Army Personnel School; the Adjutant and Personnel Detachment Commander of a special operations unit at Fort Bragg, N.C.; and as the Military Assistant to Lieutenant General Timothy J. Maude, DCSPER.

Taylor was a member of NMU's basketball team and ROTC program, having earned scholarships through both, and was commissioned into the Adjustant General Corps by his father, who ran the university's military science program.

A plaque memorializing Taylor was dedicated and positioned on Veteran's Rock in 2009.