Friends hope to complete woman's caring mission for animals
By KIM BRIGGEMAN of the Missoulian
STEVENSVILLE - Lin Taylor's gate was forever open to animals in need.
She and they could use another hand now.
Taylor, 60, died unexpectedly July 31 at Community Medical Center in Missoula from internal injuries suffered a week earlier in a horseback accident on Bass Creek.
Left behind were 11 horses, 25 cats, two dogs and a passel of chickens, ducks and geese at her ranchette north of Stevensville, where Taylor, a retired U.S. Marine, lived alone since her husband Steve died in 1997.
Homes have been found for the dogs, ducks and some laying hens, said Marilynn Taylor, a close friend who was no relation to Lin.
“We seem to be doing pretty well on the farm animals, though I think we'll have a hard time with the roosters,” she said.
The Western Montana Humane Society has volunteered to take the geese and roosters if other owners can't be located.
Most of the cats are fostered out until homes can be found, though Marilynn said there's one old cat running around the place that won't let herself be caught.
But at a time when hay prices are skyrocketing and other economic factors have left horse sanctuaries jam-packed, locating proper and permanent homes for the horses could be a challenge.
LINDA THOMPSON/Missoulian Marilynn Taylor pets Sunny, one of the 11 Arabian horses in need of homes after her friend Lin Taylor died July 31 from injuries sustained in a horse-riding accident. Marilynn Taylor is a volunteer at Fox Hollow Animal Project,
“We'd like to find people who know horses, and especially people who know Arabs,” Marilynn Taylor said.
All 11 are purebred Arabian. All but one of them are between 6 and 14 years of age. Lin's baby was Sunny, a 2-year-old gelding broke to halter.
They are healthy and well-fed. They nickered expectantly when Marilynn entered the barn Monday. Lin used to feed them three times a day, she explained. Those now helping to take care of the animals have cut the feedings down to mornings and evenings.
A few of the horses are injured and can't be ridden. Others, like Lin's top trail horse Echo, are accustomed to long rides in the mountains.
A graduate of Alberton High School, the former Lin Manning joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1966. Among other things, she was an avid horseback rider and competed in endurance races while in California.
When she returned to Montana in the early 1990s with husband Steve Taylor, she found her dream home in the Bitterroot Valley, where she rode the surrounding mountains with friends. After her husband died, she began volunteering at Montana Spay/Neuter task force events.
“Often she would take unwanted kittens to find homes for them,” Marilynn Taylor recalled at Lin's funeral services in Stevensville last Thursday. “Once she filled her horse trailer with carriers holding 15 kittens. I was hyperventilating just thinking about the job of raising and finding homes for that many kittens.”
Often Lin bottle fed, nursed and medicated kittens so they could be adopted, Marilynn said at the funeral. “The ones who didn't find homes were welcome to stay at Lin's. She never turned an animal away.”
Marilynn Taylor recounted the time a few winters ago when Lin asked her to drive to Kila with her to rescue three horses. Lin brought them back, fed them and eventually found homes for all three.
“She didn't have extra hay, but on faith that everything would work out, she took in the horses,” Marilynn said.
Most of the Arabs weren't rescued because they were starving.
“A couple of them she bought because she just felt the situation they were in was so bad, and people just had too many to take care of,” Marilynn said.
“Most of the time she simply gave the horses away to good homes. If she did get any money, it was spent to cover the cost of caring for the animals waiting for adoption.
In recent years, Taylor was a volunteer with Marilynn at Fox Hollow Animal Project, a nonprofit, low-cost spay and neuter clinic. At the time of her death, Lin was fostering cats for the Hamilton-based Feral Cat Rescue.
Marilynn Taylor has taken the lead in the quest to place her friend's orphan animals in proper homes. It's a huge undertaking.
Retired from the College of Technology at the University of Montana, where she met Lin in the first place seven years ago, Marilynn is treasurer for Fox Hollow.
The organization was in the midst of a three-week break when Lin died, but is back in action this week. Starting Tuesday, Marilynn Taylor will be involved with neutering clinics five of the next six days.
Animal care will be covered by the neighbors and Lin's considerable circle of friends, she said. The horses will be comfortable at Lin Taylor's place for the foreseeable future. Fox Hollow is accepting donations to pay for feed and care, and Lin recently bought 20 ton of hay that should get the horses through the winter.
But they need to be relocated before the snow flies, Marilynn Taylor said. Lin's heir is her son, Scott Logan, who lives in California. He'll return to the Bitterroot next month to arrange for the sale of the ranchette. Taylor said Logan has agreed to foster the horses out and “pass along the papers” later if the matches work out.
Taylor said applicants for the horses will be screened “so they'll go to where the needs of both are met.”
If you have or know of a home for one or some of the animals on Lin Taylor’s estate, contact Marilynn Taylor at 273-6007 or 381-0223.
