SNOHOMISH — After traveling hundreds of miles, a jacket with Snohomish County history has made its way home.
The brown leather coat of the late John Taylor was found at a Portland antiques store March 3 by Terry Gleason, of Oregon. He noticed its Snohomish County Search & Rescue patches. Coincidentally, his friend Jason Fortenbacher is the rescue team’s volunteer photographer. Gleason texted him a photo of the jacket. The response: “Grab it.”
“It was meant to be back with you guys,” Gleason said.
Taylor was a sergeant at the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, where he spent nearly 30 years. He worked closely with Search & Rescue volunteers.
He died in 2003. The Search & Rescue headquarters near Snohomish, Taylor’s Landing, is named after him.
Gleason went back to the antiques shop and explained the situation to the vendor, Odyssey Coins & Collectibles. It just so happened the Everett store had goods at the Portland venue. Gleason was able to buy the jacket for less than the $150 asking price. Soon after, he was stopped by another shopper who wanted to buy it for more. The person backed off after learning it was being sent home.
An undated photo shows John Taylor wearing the jacket that recently was found in Portland. (Herald file)
Fortenbacher, who lives in south Everett, wasn’t sure whose jacket it had been. The name tag was missing. He posted the photo in a Search & Rescue Facebook group. At first, people thought it belonged to sheriff’s Sgt. Danny Wikstrom, who retired in March.
Bill Quistorf, the sheriff’s chief pilot, knew the jacket was Taylor’s as soon as he saw it.
Taylor wore the jacket every day until his retirement, said Quistorf, who joined the office later. He got to meet Taylor a few times.
“The patches look so faded and worn, but those patches were just as worn back when he had it on,” Quistorf said.
The person selling the jacket wasn’t sure how it ended up with the Everett shop.
Now, it has a permanent place at Taylor’s Landing: Folks chipped in for a shadow box and a plaque.
Retired deputy Jim Duffy knew Taylor for more than 40 years. Duffy has a jacket just like Taylor’s, but his doesn’t have sergeant stripes.
An undated photo shows John Taylor wearing his jacket, which has Snohomish County Sheriff and Search & Rescue patches. (Herald file)
“We were like brothers for a while, except that I was quite a bit older than him,” Duffy said.
Taylor had a large part in expanding local search & rescue, Duffy said. He persuaded the sheriff’s office to buy the land that is now Taylor’s Landing.
There were no search helicopters when Taylor started, but he worked to change that, Duffy said. Before, the sheriff’s office would send deputies into the woods to try and find people.
“When we really needed help, we got the loggers to give us a hand,” he said.
Taylor also played a role in combining local rescue organizations into one regional team, now Snohomish County Volunteer Search & Rescue.
Duffy considers Taylor the father of the organization. Now his jacket is back where it all started.
“I think that jacket was the heart and soul of John,” Duffy said. “If you saw that jacket you knew everything was going to be alright.”
Stephanie Davey: 425-339-3192; sdavey @heraldnet.com.
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