HUNDREDS MOURN TEEN AS HER FAMILY URGES ANTI-DRUG FIGHT

GRAND PRAIRIE -- Kristen Taylor's family urged her friends to remember the
fearless, loving person she was before drugs took her life, and to try to
help other young people struggling with heroin addiction.

"This is a sickness, an epidemic," her sister Kiersten Taylor told mourners
who packed Shady Grove Church yesterday afternoon for Kristen's funeral.
"We have to come together and do something about this, because it is not
going away."

Kristen Taylor -- whose father, Tommy, called her "Krissy" -- battled a
heroin addiction for three years before being found unconscious Tuesday at
the North Richland Hills motel where she lived. She was pronounced dead on
arrival at North Hills Hospital. Police have called the death an overdose,
apparently of heroin, but an investigation is continuing.

About 700 relatives, friends and others attended the hourlong service to
pay their respects to Kristen and to show support for her family. There
were people of all ages, including many who may not have known Kristen but
who joined in mourning another North Texas young person who had apparently
fallen victim to heroin.

"Tommy and Barbara [Kristen's mother] should really feel comfortable
knowing this many people care," pastor Olen Griffing said during his eulogy.

In the entryway of the church, there were several photographs of Kristen as
a child. Next to a large image of her was an oversize pad on which many
mourners wrote messages. In the sanctuary, dozens of floral arrangements
and plants lined the stage.

Sobbing could be heard in the church as Kiersten Taylor described her
sister as a fearless child -- Kristen once mortified her parents by pulling
a dead snake from beneath a dock where the family was fishing -- and as a
young woman who loved others without reservation.

"I can be kind of critical of Krissy's friends," she said. "It didn't
matter what you looked like, where you lived or what color you were. She
loved with her whole heart."

Kristen died at 19, four days after another North Richland Hills resident,
18-year-old Christopher Bryant, died of a possible heroin overdose. If
heroin is confirmed as the cause of Kristen's death, she could be the
fourth heroin-related fatality in Northeast Tarrant County since Sept. 29.

She had tried to quit drugs at least six times, family members have said.
The Taylors shared their story in a series of Star-Telegram articles this
year in hopes of helping other addicts and their families. Her parents
described how her addiction cut off the family from friends. They joined
Shady Grove Church after becoming uncomfortable at their former church.

After yesterday's service, Tommy Taylor, a Hurst-Euless-Bedford school
district trustee, said he wants to organize a campaign to provide more drug
treatment programs in Tarrant County, which has few facilities for addicted
youths.

"I don't care if I have to sell everything I own and live in the street,"
he said.

During the service, mourners were moved to tears when an emotional Kiersten
Taylor read an anonymous letter from a heroin addict that the family
received two days after Kristen's death.

"If I had not seen Krissy's story on the news, I would probably still be
using," the addict wrote. "I've been a slave to heroin for three years now,
but I've been clean for 165 days and counting. When I learned of Krissy's
death, the first thing I wanted to do was get high in her memory. But I
decided Krissy wouldn't want me to follow her actions. Š For the rest been
a slave to heroin for three years now, but I've been clean for 165 days and
counting. When I learned of Krissy's death, the first thing I wanted to do
was get high in her memory. But I decided Krissy wouldn't want me to follow
her actions. Š For the rest of my life I dedicate staying clean and helping
others get and stay clean to Krissy Taylor."

More weeping filled the sanctuary when Griffing talked about the love that
Kristen and her parents had for one another. His voice was strhad for one
another. His voice was strained as he spoke of times when Tommy Taylor
would take his daughter breakfast in her bedroom and do Griffing cautioned
those in attendance to judge Kristen on her whole life, not on her drug
addiction.

"If you walk outside and there's one cloud in the sky, do you say, `My day
is ruined?' " he said. "Krissy understood what living was. Because there
was one cloud in her life, do we write her off? She had a challenge, yes,
but she wasn't just existing. She wanted to mean something in other
people's lives.

"You go ahead and judge her," Griffing said. "People will judge you."

About half the mourners followed the family to Rose Hill Memorial Park in
east Fort Worth, where Kristen was buried next to relatives.

As Griffing conducted the service under an overcast sky, visibly shaken
young mourners periodically walked away from the graveside gathering.

The Taylors have organized a memorial fund at First State Bank in
Arlington. For information, call (817) 608-2400.

Domingo Ramirez Jr. contributed to this report.

Mike Lee, (817) 685-3858 Send your comments to mikelee@star-telegram.com