This year sucks.
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/atlanta-ga/thomas-taylor-11170001Edit: sorry, it took me a few days and different iterations in my mind what I had to say.
I moved from Honolulu, Hawaii to Stone Mountain, Georgia mostly to follow my dream of skating the urban spots that I saw Andy Howell skating. I knew I could go to college and my rich aunt (she came close to adopting me) would pay for my schooling so I did it.
Going from Hawaii that had a few core shops and a lot of well stocked surf shops at the malls to sporadically separated stores with no guarantee of having what you wanted was a shock and and outcome I hadn't prepared. It wasn't until one of my best friends I made and one of the handful of skaters in my high school in 1991, Joseph Moore, took me to Stratosphere. I never needed to go anywhere else once I talked to Thomas and he was stoked to hear I was an outsider coming to the scene. Next, to him on a stool sat professional Australian skateboarder (amazing doc marten wearing on vert) Adam Luxford (also approachable and just a cool dude).
Over the years, I had many conversations with Thomas and his well chosen employees over the years as I shopped for every board that is now considered a classic to go hit the spots nearby. Even though the shop moved around L5P, it was always an upgrade. In the early 90s when the crack epidemic was still heavily taking a toll on the surrounding areas in the ATL before the Olympics came in to get rid of Techwood, etc, just think what kind of patience you had to have to be almost adjacent to that as a business owner. Thomas weathered all that madness.
more soon, crying again...