I usually ignore numbers I don’t recognize from the caller ID, but this is a local call, which makes me curious, as does the fact that no one who knows me ever calls the landline. Everyone who needs to reach me knows my cell number. But this caller is extremely persistent, really, aggressive is a better word: The phone keeps ringing, and I let the call go to voicemail five times before I finally answer. “This is MJ.”
The caller turns out to be a reporter from the Chronicle. She got an anonymous tip. No, she doesn’t know from whom—it was anonymous. Duh, she practically says. Then, “Is it true that you were married to Dr. John Taylor? And that he had two other wives?” she asks.
I am floored. Who could have told her? How many people know? Deborah, or perhaps that other wife, although she hadn’t seemed the type to give much away. That type can surprise. This . . . Helen—that’s right, that’s her name—might have looked as though she had everything under wraps, with her elegant black sheath and those cheekbones and collarbone, but I’ve seen some truly spectacular meltdowns from her kind. My own tightly buttoned-up mother was a master of self-restraint, but when she broke, she broke big.
This reporter, she hits me with the facts. So smoothly! No hint of judgment or shock in her voice. She fools me, she makes it sound like no big deal.
“And you had no idea about your husband’s other wives?” she asks, and her voice is so . . . understanding . . . that I lose my head. The booze coupled with the confusion. I spew words, many words, before hanging up the phone and collapsing.
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San Francisco Chronicle
Deceased Stanford Doctor
Had Three Wives
May 15, 2013
PALO ALTO, CA—Dr. John Taylor was a prominent plastic surgeon, an associate clinical professor at Stanford, and director of the Taylor Institute, a thriving private clinic that specialized in facial reconstructions. It wasn’t until Taylor passed away last week, at age 62, of a presumed heart attack, that he was discovered to have had three concurrent wives in different households in Palo Alto, Los Gatos, and Los Angeles.
“My world has just fallen apart,” said MJ Taylor (née Johnston) of Los Gatos, who hadn’t known that her husband was married with three children. In fact, he had never divorced his wife Deborah Taylor (55) of Palo Alto. MJ Taylor (49) had married Dr. John Taylor in a quiet ceremony on the beach in Santa Cruz five years ago. At that point, Dr. John Taylor had been married to Deborah Taylor for nearly thirty years. Then, six months ago, Dr. Taylor married again, this time to fellow physician Helen Richter (36) who lives and works in Los Angeles, where Dr. Taylor was a visiting professor at the UCLA medical school. Dr. Richter kept her own surname after the ceremony. MJ Taylor, a financial analyst at WebSys Corp., in Santa Clara, also claimed to have no knowledge of this later marriage. “Until the funeral reception, I had no idea. Not a clue,” she said, adding, “She does seem like a nice woman.”
Dr. Helen Richter and Deborah Taylor were unavailable for comment.
In the United States, the Model Penal Code (section 230.1) defines bigamy as a misdemeanor. In the state of California, if a married person marries an unmarried person the penalty is a one-year prison term or a ten-thousand-dollar fine. If an unmarried person knowingly marries another person’s husband or wife, then the penalty is five thousand dollars or a one-year prison term. Samantha Adams, a detective with the Palo Alto Police Department said the state was unlikely to pursue charges against MJ Taylor or Dr. Richter, as they appeared ignorant of Taylor’s original marriage.
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Samantha