Brantley Emmanuel-Zephaniah Taylor

Emmanuel was born on Dec. 13, 2009, (Gaudete Sunday), at 11:04am at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts to Mark Warren and Kris Allison Taylor.

Gaudete Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent. Gaudete in Latin means REJOICE! In his 2014 Gaudete Sunday homily, Pope Francis said that Gaudete Sunday is known as the “Sunday of joy”, and that instead of fretting about” all they still haven’t done to prepare for Christmas, people should think of all the good things life has given you”. On that day, we were given Emmanuel, “God with Us”. We were truly filled with joy and rejoiced at the birth of our son! The name we bestowed upon him, reflects the Advent and Christmas season.

The joy of his birth carried through in the raising of him. Emmanuel was so excited about life and loved to learn new things. In his early years, he was cared for at home by his mother, maternal grandmother, and father before he was enrolled in the Brockton Public Schools.

Emmanuel attended Dr. William H. Arnone Elementary School from kindergarten through 5th grade. He then attended West Middle School for 6th grade before being homeschooled for grades 7 and 8.

Emmanuel’s extra-curricular activities included taking dance classes at The Gold School in Brockton. During his 7th grade year, he was cast as Gaston in a production of Beauty and the Beast at the Capachione School of Performing Arts in East Bridgewater, MA. During his 8th grade year, he was cast to play the role of Kevn G in a production of Mean Girls. Also, while at the School of Performing Arts, he took individual voice lessons and sang in two winter holiday choral performances.

Emmanuel loved musicals and plays and saw a production of Annie, The Lion King, Elf the Musical and Mrs. Doubtfire the Musical in Boston. Last year, Emmanuel saw dance performances by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Award-winning Chinese Dance Drama, Mulan at the Wang Center Boston. He also attended a Lady Smith Black Mambazo concert at Sanders Theatre in Cambridge. On Broadway, in New York City, he saw Dear Evan Hansen, The Wiz and Wicked.

In the spring of 2024, he applied and was accepted to Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School’s class of 2028. His interests were drama and video production.

As a very young child, Emmanuel fell in love with trains. He loved Thomas the Train, or Thomas & Friends, a British children’s series that ran on PBS based on The Railway Series books by British author Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son. Emmanuel enjoyed watching the tv series and reading the books. This love of trains grew into liking and studying an array of steam engines, building models and customizing his own trains. His love for steam engines and coaches existed throughout

his life. Each year he would attend train shows, research and visit hobby shops and was able to speak with train vendors proficiently because he had command of all the facts and details regarding steam train engines and models. He visited the National Train Museum in San Diego, California, Green Bay, Wisconsin and Strasburg, Pennsylvania. Emmanuel enjoyed riding the South Shore Commuter Rail from Chicago, Illinois to South Bend, Indiana on his way to visit his grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins in Bremen, Indiana. While there, he would visit the Bremen Historic B&O Train Depot that was built in 1929 and now serves as a museum.

Emmanuel loved to read. He read entire book series and could always be found with a book nearby. His other interests included drawing, listening to music and watching YouTube videos on how to build and customize his own model railway system. At one point, Emmanuel became engrossed with the story of the Titanic. He was an avid Minecraft player, and he was into VR. In recent years, he began creating his own stories with other young writers.

Emmanuel also loved to travel. Because his family lived in California, Texas, Indiana and throughout the Midwest, he had an opportunity to experience many airports, train stations, subways and rental cars. Highlights of his travels include visiting San Diego, LA, Fresno, San Francisco, Oakland, Las Vegas, Houston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, New York, Indianapolis, Ellettsville, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Columbus, Nashville and Chicago. One of his favorite forms of travel were the weeklong family cruises. Those include two trips to Mexico and one to Key West and the Bahamas.

Emmanuel’s favorite foods were cheese pizza from Georgio’s in Brockton, and chocolate milk shakes from either Shake Shack, Five Guys or Chick- Fil-A. He also enjoyed the beach, swimming and loved his dog, Chase.

This past July, Emmanuel was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. He became a patient at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Jimmy Fund Clinic and Boston Children’s Hospital where he received excellent care. Throughout his treatment he showed great resilience, courage and hope.

On Saturday, December 28th, (Feast of the Holy Innocents), at 9:50am, Emmanuel took his final breaths and peacefully passed away at home with his parents by his side. In addition to Mark and Kris he is survived by his maternal grandparents James C. and Patricia M. Allison, a large host of aunts, uncles, and cousins from across the country. His paternal grandparents, Brantley Riley and Dorothy Ann Mitchell Taylor, preceded him in death.

Emmanuel was very much loved by his family, neighbors, teachers, doctors, and friends for his free, generous and inclusive spirit. He was energetic, playful, witty, humorous and had a thirst for life.

We are grateful for the time we had with Emmanuel on this earth, and we know that he is back with his Creator, and we will see him again.

In lieu of flowers family asks that all donations be made to Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Jimmy Fund Clinic. 

There will be live streaming via zoom for services: 

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/75987721024?pwd=Bj4pU1gdjmC7ULaYJaPtP3Pj20zfOf.1

Meeting ID: 759 8772 1024
Passcode: 305254
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