Our much loved Jacob Edward Taggart (Jake/ “JT”) died Monday, August 19th in an auto accident in Western Kansas as he traveled cross-country from California to begin a new job opportunity in Boston. He planned to spend time in the midwest with family and friends.
Jake was born in December 1993 in Indianapolis where he grew up and lived most of his life; he also spent time in California where he grew to love its culture, climate and people.
While his death was a direct result from an auto accident, he was collateral damage in the opioid crisis. Jake struggled with drug addiction for many years. It defined most of his twenties. He was brilliant and complex. Despite his struggles, he received a BS in Infomatics, joined a two month intensive coding program and became a talented software engineer.
Jake tried many times to get sober on his own and was successful for short periods of time. He saw many friends overdose and pass away. He never wanted to become that statistic. No one does. He wanted to honor those deaths by overcoming the powerful draw of addiction and living a healthy, strong and happy life.
In 2022, Jake entered a period of his life devoted to intense recovery efforts with amazing, caring, devoted talented professionals. He made multiple attempts in inpatient and outpatient rehab, recovery and yes, had relapses. It was in these years that he found his people and his recovery community in California being sober living and in a 12 step program. The journey to recovery is not linear, but the support he found allowed him to be sober for nearly a year. He built on that success and secured a new job at a specialty technical software company he was to begin in September. He began to build his east coast recovery community where he wanted to become a sponsor for others struggling with addiction.
Jake was brilliant and loved to read and write. He wrote stories regularly from the time he was 8 years old. He regularly tossed out obscure vocabulary words assuming we would know them. When talking to Jake, it was important to remember that Google is your friend. He spent his youth playing and watching sports of every type but his passion was baseball. There were countless hours spent at Little League baseball fields from the age of 5 through high school. Music of every type and genre was his adult passion and he loved to share new artists with others. And, all those Phish shows!
A life can’t be captured in an obituary, especially if addiction has been a part of that life. Addiction pulls its victims down while family and friends often detach to save themselves. Know that if you pulled away from him, he understood. We love and cherish each of you. Jake was the youngest of our immediate family; one that we viewed as our greatest life challenge. We took that challenge head on. We had no choice because he was ours; a part of us. We changed our lives because of and in spite of him over and over. In the few short days since his passing, we’ve been inundated with hilarious stories about him, examples of his tenderness, kindness, and his incredible way with words that changed and saved lives.
Jake is survived by his parents, Sheila Taggart and Bob Taggart; his brothers, Travis, Pat and Ben; His “Gran,” Jean Goebel; his aunt, Linda Oetting; his Kimball step-brothers Jeff, Zach & Pat; as well as so many beloved Aunts, Uncles and cousins (particularly Sam who held a special place in his heart); The Eichenbergers, Atteberrys, Goebels, Deneaus and the Oettings were just some of the multitude of family that loved and cared deeply for him. His friends are countless and include those that are Taggarts in spirit. He was predeceased by his Grandfather, Larry Goebel, who we feel was waiting for him. Together, they are our guardian angels.
A California sunset Celebration of Life is planned for September 6th at 6:30 P.M. at the shoreline of the water at 1 Driftwood Street Marina del Ray, CA 90292.
The Indiana Celebration of Life will be held at a future date in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Although we are beyond devastated by his loss just when he was moving into his next chapter, we are grateful that we had the opportunity to spend time with the beautiful soul we loved and always knew was still somewhere inside.
Everyone who loved and cared for Jake was hoping that he had overcome the worst of his battles. His future was looking bright again. Our hearts are shattered. We feel his loss deeply but we are grateful that he died happy, healthy and ready to take on life.
The below was borrowed from a beautifully written obituary.
“If you yourself are struggling from addiction, know that every breath is a fresh start. Know that hundreds of thousands of families who have lost someone to this disease are praying and rooting for you. Know that we believe with all our hearts that you can and will make it. It is never too late.”