Taiber memorial honors his impacts

The world lost an amazing son, brother, cousin, grandson and friend in Gilmore Nicholas Taiber when he died in a car accident on May 30, 2019. Taiber was heading north on Leversee Road when the car went into an east ditch, causing it to roll. He was thrown from the car. He was an athlete, took advanced classes and had the funniest personality. He was the sunshine we all needed on a cloudy day, but most importantly he was the sweetest human.

 “The Gil Taiber Scholarship Fund is an annual scholarship awarded to one high school graduate from either Waterloo East, Waterloo West, Cedar Falls High School, Janesville High School or Waverly-Shell Rock High School. The recipient will have maintained at least a 3.85 GPA (like Gil), participated in high school-related sports or other activities all four years (like Gil), and worked a job all four years of high school (like Gil),” said Emily Allaire, Gil’s mom. 

The fundraiser was not only held for the scholarship. It was also held to raise the awareness of the importance of wearing seatbelts while driving, as Gil wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. The Gil Taiber Scholarship Fund shows the hard work, dedication and passion Gil had. The scholarship will be awarded annually to a graduating senior from an area high school who shares these qualities.

The event in honor of Gil was held at the Octopus on College Hill on Sunday, November 10, 2019, starting at 3:00 pm. As I walked into the event, I handed the bouncer $10 that went toward the Gil Taiber Scholarship fund, and then I received a green bracelet for the Iowa Donor Network. The brilliant boy loved by hundreds saved over 200 Iowa Donor Network patients when they benefited from his gifts. 

The bands for this year’s fundraiser festival were Jordan Sellergren, Katie and the Honky Tonks, The Cover UPS, Tommy Kelly and Dave Zollo. 

“After Gil died, his family, friends and community began to give money in Gil’s name to a memorial of some kind. While it’s customary to accept this money and put it toward funeral expenses, we decided to start The Gil Taiber Scholarship Fund instead. Because college tuition continues to rise, we want to keep Gil’s legacy going year after year, raising funds as a family, with our friends and our community, to help students afford college expenses. We worked closely with the staff at the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa (CFNEIA) to develop the criteria of the scholarship. CFNEIA also holds the funds in an endowment that continues to grow with interest in addition to the funds we raise,” Allaire said.

A Facebook page created by Matthew Dunning has alone raised over $13,000. Along with the generous donations, T shirts and sweatshirts were also sold at the event, which brought in a lot of profit too. As college tuitions rise, it is the goal of Gil’s family to help those who show the gifted talents that Gil possessed. 

Gilmore Taiber, you are loved by many, and may your kindness live on through us all. Thank you for blessing us all with 17 years of pure greatness as we all got to see you succeed.  Fly high 44.