Chapter 2

Before I Was, There Were...

Well, I suppose I’ll talk about before me, by explaining who was there, and what led to me. So here we go. First, there was this guy, Douglas Lee Kidd. He was 21 years old, and had just recently come off a divorce. He was into cars and the outdoors. His parents were George John Kidd and Mary Marie Mahoney, and he had a sister, Stacie. They weren’t a rich family, their only income came from George, who was a postal worker for 33 years. Doug had completed high school, but no college, and was terrified about speaking in public. Through an old high school friend, he was introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which he joined, and which his whole posterity would become a part of, including his future wife.

Next we have a girl, Doreen Ellen Taylor. She was 22 years old and also coming off a divorce, but also had a child. She was a high school drop-out, who decided her senior year that she couldn’t be married with a baby, work, and do school at the same time, so she didn’t. She did however go to college and major in accounting. She was the adopted daughter of Claire Eugene (Gene) Taylor, and Bertha Ellen Price. She also had two much older siblings from Bertha’s previous marriage, Darrell and Patty (both about 30 years older than Doreen), as well as another adopted sibling, Jeff, who was about her age.

Doug and Doreen both were in the class of ‘77 at Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids, but never knew eachother there. They met on a blind date, which their friends had set up. Six weeks later, they were married. In that time, Doreen became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and they were never engaged. They were married on August 11, 1981, on Doreen’s mom’s birthday. Nine months and ten days later (May 21, 1982) I was born at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids. I was born with two surviving Great Grandparents, Harry Beauford Price and Sadie Jane Floyd, as well as all of my grandparents, and one brother, Jason, who was five years older than me, from my mother’s previous marriage. These are the people that created my gene pool, as well as the stories of my mother and father. These are what were here Before I Was.