Two Years After Sean Taylor's Death, His Mother Faces a Wall of Hardship
By Amy Shipley
The Washington Post
September 30, 2009
* Original The Washington Post article: Two Years After Sean Taylor's Death, His Mother Faces a Wall of Hardship Read the original story
HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Donna Junor sported a flowing print dress, bejeweled flip-flops and manicured orange nails when she answered the door last week at the three-bedroom townhouse she fears she will lose to foreclosure.
Her sporty but aging Mercedes-Benz, the one with the 'Sean 21' tag, was parked just outside the door. The living room featured plush red furniture and a brightly colored area rug. In the dining room, just below the airbrushed portrait of her son -- the late Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor -- sat a neatly set dining table with cloth napkins.
When she could afford it, Junor, 49, lived a nice, comfortable life. Her son made sure of that, handing out massive checks, even gift bags filled with tens of thousands of dollars, to family members. Now, those days are long gone.
When Taylor died without a will on Nov. 27, 2007, the bulk of his $5.8 million estate went to his daughter, Jackie Taylor, now 3, who lives with her mother, Taylor's high school sweetheart, Jackie Garcia, in Coral Gables, Fla. Taylor's mother did not get a penny. Nor did his grandmother, great-grandmother, two of his half-siblings or any of the cousins or relatives who had grown accustomed to his largesse.
In Junor's case, she was left with possessions that carry costs and fees that she says exceed her income as a substitute teacher. She could not pay the real-estate taxes last year on the townhouse she bought in 2005 with $222,000 her son had given her. Another tax bill is due at the end of November. She hasn't paid her homeowners association dues in months. The lawyers have begun chasing.
'I'm not looking for a handout, but I just don't think when you have a son in the NFL who was so progressive, his mother should end up this way,' Junor said. 'I don't feel I should be left out in the cold like this.'
Taylor died a day after suffering a gunshot wound while confronting burglars in his south Miami home. After his estate was settled, Taylor's father Pedro 'Pete' Taylor, who shared a bank account with his son, received the $328,000 remaining in the joint account. Pete Taylor has long been estranged from Junor.
An additional $650,000 from a life insurance policy went to Taylor's eldest sister, Monika Martin, 29, one of Junor's four children.
Though the money represented just a small portion of Taylor's estate, it provided a significant financial cushion to two members of his extended family, neither of whom, at least formally, has spread the wealth. Anything short of the generosity Taylor showed during his life likely would have been met with resentment from the family members left out of the settlement. Indeed, a family divided long before Sean Taylor's birth -- Pete Taylor and Donna Junor did not raise their son together -- seems to have grown further apart since he died.
'People do change, even though she's my daughter,' Junor said about Martin, who has two small children. But 'what about Pete? . . . Sean's daughter was supposed to get what she got, but the injustice is Pete. Whatever he got of Sean's savings, he should share.'
Pete Taylor declined to comment. Reached by phone, Monika Martin said she did not know the extent of her mother's financial woes, but she said she had previously taken some of the insurance money 'and helped my mom with it.' A significant cut of the insurance money, she said, went to pay taxes.
Four months after her brother's death, Martin, a schoolteacher, purchased a $300,000 home.
She said she understood the frustration over the way her late brother's assets were distributed. 'I don't think everything went fairly, either,' Martin said. 'That's life. . . . I know [Taylor] would have wanted it to be different.
'All of us, we all were spoiled by him. The reality is, he's not here anymore. The reality is, we didn't always have money. . . . I don't think the reality has hit' my mother.
Reality hit when the letter from the homeowners association's attorneys came recently, informing Junor that legal action would be taken against her in 30 days if she did not settle the balance on her account. The letter indicates that she owes more than $1,400 in association fees; she said she also owes more than $3,000 in unpaid real-estate taxes with another $3,000 due soon.
After 14 years of part-time classes at Miami-Dade Community College, Junor finally got her degree this year. But, she said, she has not been able to find regular, full-time work as a teacher. She lives with her daughter Sasha Johnson, 22, and Johnson's baby, Christopher, 1.
It isn't just her son's wealth that bypassed Junor; she said she doesn't have any of his memorabilia, either. All of it either was auctioned to raise money for the estate, or, she says, collected by Taylor's father or fiancee, Garcia.
Junor says she knows her son took good care of Garcia, whom he dated at Gulliver Prep and the University of Miami. She
He went to my high school for a bit. He was my favorite athlete from the U. I miss sean
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Is it really ever too late? I'm still laughing about Calfornia 2003, Oregon St and UCLA 2006, Stanford 2007, Oregon St again 2008 and now Washington in 2009. - Tonybhall
"Originally posted by SynergyAMB1125: ok you need to learn what ST is all about. take a break from posting, read some threads from like late 07/early 08 (the golden days) and come back later"
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Is it really ever too late? I'm still laughing about Calfornia 2003, Oregon St and UCLA 2006, Stanford 2007, Oregon St again 2008 and now Washington in 2009. - Tonybhall
"Originally posted by SynergyAMB1125: ok you need to learn what ST is all about. take a break from posting, read some threads from like late 07/early 08 (the golden days) and come back later"
Except in ST:S athletes aren't people, they are gods.
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Is it really ever too late? I'm still laughing about Calfornia 2003, Oregon St and UCLA 2006, Stanford 2007, Oregon St again 2008 and now Washington in 2009. - Tonybhall
"Originally posted by SynergyAMB1125: ok you need to learn what ST is all about. take a break from posting, read some threads from like late 07/early 08 (the golden days) and come back later"
Just because it happens a lot we shouldn't care? Go play russian roulette with a chainsaw ASAP please
We shouldnt isolate this as more important than the others.
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You aint ****, but neither is anyone else"
"It starts when you begin to overlook bad manners. Anytime you quit hearing "sir" and "ma'am", the end is pretty much in sight." - Ed Tom Bell
“Obsession is what lazy people call dedication"
TG Thread "The Spartan": Range between 5'2 and 5'7. They have packed as muscle as possible on to their frames as possible. They most likely have some type of SUV or truck that includes a Gun rack. While hes lifitng ungodly about of weights, you can literally hear Lynard Skynard blasting from his head phones. If you have an Obama shirt on, he will come out of his way to tell you how much dick you suck.
Uh, no. If he's special to you in any way it's more important. If he's one of your favorite athletes, it's more important.
If your wife and kids got murdered, wouldn't you care a hell of a lot more than if it happened to some other family? Not that you dgaf about them, but when it comes close to you it should matter more.
He was a famous athlete in the limelight, of course it is going to be more important than other incidents.
sean should have had more than $650k worth of life insurance.
Absolutely. 650k doesn't even begin to consider potential future earnings. He was a top 5 FS with at least 8 years left in his career. A more realistic policy would have been closer to the $5M area. However, it wouldn't really matter because all the money went to the kid. But I agree he needed more insurance.
Uh, no. If he's special to you in any way it's more important. If he's one of your favorite athletes, it's more important.
If your wife and kids got murdered, wouldn't you care a hell of a lot more than if it happened to some other family? Not that you dgaf about them, but when it comes close to you it should matter more.
He was a famous athlete in the limelight, of course it is going to be more important than other incidents.
