Thalyl Rashiem Taylor didn’t have the easiest start in life. He was born with underdeveloped lungs, and he was hospitalized frequently with asthma.
But that didn’t stop him from playing basketball. At about 5 feet 6 inches, he wasn’t the tallest on the team, but he was good, and had dreams of making it big.
“He wanted to be an NBA player,” his mother Chimere Quattlebaum said. “He always said, ‘I’m gonna make you a millionaire, mom. I’m gonna get you out of the hood.’”
Chimere can’t remember how it started, but Thalyl (pronounced TA-leel) went by the nickname Baby 9, and he called his mom “Beautiful.”
Thalyl was the comedian of the family, and his smile and laughter were infectious. But behind the jokes was so much pain.
The family was torn apart when Thalyl’s brother, Thomas “Manny” Page, was fatally shot in September 2018. It brought him and Chimere closer, but he was angry. Even after police made an arrest three months after Manny’s murder, he remained angry.
“I could see that he was rebelling against the positive things I wanted to do for him and wanted him to do,” she said. “He just wanted to be with his brother.”
As Chimere was grieving Manny, she endured another unthinkable heartbreak too devastating to bear: Thalyl — her only remaining child — was also shot. He suffered one gunshot wound to his shoulder on March 21, 2020, and while he was in surgery, he suffered a massive stroke. Chimere and her family made the decision to remove Thalyl from life support on March 26.
Knowing both of her children are together brings her some comfort, but that doesn’t make it any less painful.
“He wanted to be with his brother, and I believe my child is happy and he’s at peace. He’s with his brother and his dad,” Chimere said. “I’m not going to say I’m okay, but I’m holding on.”
“In eighteen months I lost everything I ever loved. Where do I go from there?”
Thalyl was born Jan. 27, 2003 to Chimere and Tyrone Taylor. Tyrone was shot and killed when Thalyl was 3 years old, and they shared a birthday.
When her boys were growing up, Chimere spoiled them, and and that included extravagant birthday parties.
“I’m one of those over-the-top moms,” she said. “On your first birthday you got to have three birthday cakes and wardrobe changes and photographers and characters. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love them unconditionally — both of them. My children are the air that I breathe.”
A junior at Achievement House Cyber Charter School, Thalyl was on the distinguished honor roll and especially enjoyed science.
He also enjoyed the companionship of his cat, Jade, an all-gray female with jade green eyes. They grew up together — Chimere got Jade as a kitten when Thalyl was a baby. Since Thalyl’s death, Jade has been curled up outside of his bedroom door, missing him.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made planning Thalyl’s funeral more complicated, and the restrictions are disrupting the family’s mourning.
The viewing will be held at 9 a.m. on Monday, April 6 at the DuPree Funeral Home at 2809 W. Diamond St. Ten people will be permitted in at a time for five minutes. At the interment, which will be at Northwood Cemetery, only the pallbearers will be allowed at the graveside. All other guests must watch from their vehicles.
Chimere plans to be in the first car.
“My baby didn’t deserve this, and I don’t deserve this pain, but God won’t give you what you’re not supposed to have,” she said. “I’m just taking it one day at a time and utilizing my support system. At this point, I just don’t know.”
Thalyl would want to be remembered as “a hyperactive little jerk, always making someone laugh,” Chimere said sadly with a chuckle in her voice. “That smile. That baby’s smile.”
A reward of up to $20,000 if available to anyone that comes forward with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Thalyl’s murder. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS.
