The brightly colored BINGO balls bounced playfully in the machine, knocking each other out of the way as they fought to be first.
“O-65,” an automated voice called out followed by a …
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The brightly colored BINGO balls bounced playfully in the machine, knocking each other out of the way as they fought to be first.
“O-65,” an automated voice called out followed by a chorus of excited gasps from the players who by now had turned their attention to the screen.
BINGO has been a Thursday afternoon favorite at the Mexico Nutrition and Activity Center for quite some time now and attracts a regular crowd. Over the years, their well-loved BINGO machine was looking a little worse for wear but there was no money in the budget to replace it.
“Our old machine was as ancient as it could be,” said Emily Lain, vice president of the Mexico Nutrition and Activity Center’s board.
That was when a recent newcomer stepped in to make a donation.
Dr. Judy Taylor, an Audrain County native and Community R-6 alumni, donated this generous gift and officially cut the ribbon April 3. Despite not playing BINGO herself, she felt the need to do something special for the center where she has been coming practically every day for almost three months.
“I just love coming here because the people are nice and the thing is, a lot of people probably only get one good meal a day, so it’s a good place to support,” Taylor said. “It’s just what you need to do. If you have it, you should help people.”
Taylor always did want to help people and she became a nurse after earning her Bachelor of Science from the University of Missouri in Columbia. After a year out of school, she went back to obtain an advanced degree.
“After that I tried to apply to medical school and they wouldn’t take me so I ended up in Kansas City, which was so foreign to me,” she said.
She remembers watching security having to take firearms and knives off people on the UMKC campus, which was so unlike her experience at MU. But even still, Taylor can’t help but remember all the good that came from her time there.
“There were some really good people who I really got attached to,” Taylor said as tears began to well in her eyes. “It was what it was and I've been very lucky.”
Taylor was a general practitioner for over 40 years. Her first practice was in Urbana, Missouri, where she developed what she would call her “claim to fame,” an efficient way to draw blood from obese patients by tilting them on an operating table.
She also had a practice in Laddonia for 10 years before retiring almost five years ago.
Currently she lives just south of Benton City on a farm where she keeps her horse.
“I am a real animal person,” said Taylor.
She and her lifelong friend and former classmate Dale Hackmann now spend their days at the Mexico Nutrition and Activity Center together.
“She was always a community-minded person,” Hackmann said.
The new BINGO machine donated by Taylor is fully automated, much to the delight of the players as well as the center’s volunteers and staff who thanked her with a card after she cut the ceremonial ribbon.
Card in hand, Taylor made her way back to the cafeteria where she took her seat beside Hackmann, contently watching her newfound friends enjoy her contribution with a smile on her face.
