Vallejo couple ending community holiday lights display honoring daughter after 23 years

VALLEJO, Calif. - After 23-years one of Vallejo’s iconic home holiday light displays is going dark forever at the end of this holiday season.

The display has been up and running all this time in honor of a local woman who died in a plane crash.

In June 1999, then 36-year-old Debra Taylor was on her way from San Francisco to Little Rock, Arkansas, when the plane she was on crashed after missing the runway in a storm. Taylor and 10 others were killed in the crash.

"My daughter, Christmas was her favorite time of the year. She loved Christmas, loved to decorate," said the woman's father Bob Taylor. 

Bob Taylor is the man behind the massive display in Vallejo’s Glen Cove neighborhood.

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Debra Taylor's family decided to honor her every year since the tragic accident.

"It was driving me literally crazy. I just could not accept the fact that my daughter had died, and my other two daughters came over and said ‘come on dad, let’s decorate the yard for Deb,'" recalled Bob Taylor. 

In the year’s since Debra Taylor's passing what started as a way to honor her, and her love of Christmas, has turned into a tradition for thousands – even tens of thousands – of Vallejo kids and their families.

"Well that first year we did not have very much but every year it got bigger and brighter and bigger and brighter, and now it is 23 years later and this is what we have," Taylor said.

But this year will be the last for the Taylor’s display.

Even though the Taylors get help with setting up the display every year from a team of volunteers, it's become too much for the family to manage.

"Well the reason it has to come to an end is that Linda and I have just gotten too old to decorate anymore," said Bob Taylor, whose wife Linda Taylor also helps put on the display every year.

The Taylors say they remain eternally grateful to all the families who have come out to support them over the years, and they know their daughter would love it as well.

"So I told everybody I had to make it bright enough, so she could see it from heaven. And I think I just about made that goal," Bob Taylor said.

The lights will go down on the display for the very last time on New Year’s Eve, but the memory of their daughter will live in their hearts forever. 

The holiday lights display is illuminated from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The holiday display is located in the 800 Block of Old Glen Cove Road in Vallejo. The last day will be Dec. 31.