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Victim of car crash well-known in music, arts circles
By IAN FAIRCLOUGH Valley Bureau
FALMOUTH — The woman killed Sunday on Highway 101 in Falmouth was a well-known figure in Halifax jazz circles who turned 65 the day that she died in a four-vehicle crash.
RCMP say Susan Jane Taylor of Halifax was on her way to the Annapolis Valley with her son and niece for a family gathering when their vehicle apparently crossed the centre line and collided with three vehicles heading in the opposite direction. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Ms. Taylor was well-known on the Halifax arts scene, volunteering with JazzEast and singing in the Nova Scotia Mass Choir. She was a former house manager of the Dunn Theatre at Dalhousie University and worked in the jazz section at Sam the Record Man in Halifax for many years before it closed.
Susan Hunter, former artistic director at JazzEast, said Ms. Taylor was well-known in jazz circles and spent the past couple of years volunteering for the organization after years of selling CDs for Sam’s during the Atlantic Jazz Festival.
“She was a huge source of information for jazz generally in Halifax,” Ms. Hunter said. “She loved the music as well. She was always part of the music scene.”
She said Ms. Taylor was a valued volunteer at the jazz festival.
“She was great, she was there to help. She was very solid, the kind of person who’s not big and loud and flashy, but you could count on her.”
Ms. Hunter said Ms. Taylor did whatever was needed of her. “She was very community-minded.”
Five other people were injured in the crash and were in stable condition in hospital Monday, RCMP said. The force’s Annapolis Valley Traffic Services is still investigating but says neither speed nor alcohol were factors in the collision.
Ms. Taylor was the first person killed on the highway since February 2006.
( ifairclough@herald.ca)
