It’s been more than two decades since Tony Taylor arrived in the United States from his native Ghana in West Africa, 19 years since he moved to Hattiesburg, and – as of July 8 – 15 years since he established Hattiesburg Transportation & Taxi, LLC.
But rather than a celebration or party for the 15th anniversary of his business, there’s one thing Taylor would like above all else – to get two of his four children, Barbara and Evelyn, from Ghana with him in the U.S. Meanwhile, his other two children, Benedicte and Charles, would stay in their current city of London, England.
“They are waiting for a letter from immigration to the American embassy in Ghana,” Taylor said. “They need them to give a date for them to go to the intake (process to come to America).
“They are on a waiting list. We don’t know yet – it could be this year, it could be next year, it could be this week or next month. We just don’t know yet.”
Taylor has had some help on that front from Mayor Toby Barker, who has assisted him with filing the necessary paperwork for the immigration process.
“People have asked me what I’m doing (to celebrate), and I say I’m doing nothing until I get my children here,” Taylor said. “I feel sorry that I am here and they are there.”
Taylor’s “American Dream” began when he was in elementary school in Ghana and developed a passion to come to the country – in particular Mississippi – and see the Mississippi River with his own eyes. A few decades later, and almost 6,000 miles from that elementary school, Taylor has realized that dream, with a fleet of five vehicles – three in Hattiesburg and two in Meridian.
Taylor was born in Ghana in January 1952 and joined the Ghana Air Force in 1972, where he worked for the president of the Republic of Ghana. While he was working security at Volta Aluminum Company, he met a group of expatriates from the United States, Germany and India that he was assigned to protect.
It was there that Taylor met Joseph Whittington, an expat who happened to be from McComb. When Whittington left to go back to the United States, he invited Taylor to come, an offer Taylor accepted after some time.
On Dec. 8, 2000, Taylor arrived in New York City, where he stayed with a Catholic priest for two weeks. He then moved to Tuscon, Arizona and worked at a Burger King for approximately six months.
From there it was on to New Orleans and then to McComb, where Whittington provided Taylor with a small apartment. Taylor then took a job offshore; during his two weeks off from that gig, he worked as a security guard at Save Rite in Hattiesburg and at The Mailing Place.
In 2004, Taylor resigned from all his jobs and began working as a security guard at Howard Industries in Laurel. After moving to Hattiesburg, Taylor started to attend St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, where he met Father Tommy Conway, who helped him purchase his first vehicle and his current house.
With the help of many other prominent Hattiesburg residents – including former Mayor Johnny DuPree, city clerk Kermas Eaton and Major Hardy Sims of the Hattiesburg Police Department – Taylor started Hattiesburg Transportation & Taxi on July 8, 2008.
“I feel very proud that I learned a lot of discipline when I was in the Army, and I was fortunate to work with the president of Ghana,” Taylor said. “I was fortunate to work with Americans in the big company in Ghana where they do aluminum, and I worked in that company for 20 years.
“I had some people asking me about opening my own taxi business, because I had a taxi before in Ghana when I was in the Army, so I knew about (that business). So some people directed me to (Hattiesburg) City Hall.”
After 13 years of living in America, Taylor was naturalized as a United States citizen in 2013.
“I’m proud to be in America, and I’m proud to have my own business,” Taylor said.
Taylor began contracting with Silver Airways for a year and a half before ExpressJet Airlines took over at the Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport. That company left after about two and a half years, at which point Taylor took his current contract with SkyWest.
“SkyWest was going to do overnight in Meridian, if I would be willing to do it,” Taylor said in a previous story. “I had just bought this house (in Hattiesburg) five months before, and then I moved to Meridian to rent an apartment.
“They said it was going to be a three-year contract, so 10 months later they asked me to come back to Hattiesburg and maintain the one in Meridian also. So now I have two contracts – Hattiesburg and Meridian. But it’s very hard to get people to work.”
These days, Taylor can be seen around town driving one of his taxis bearing the flags of the United States and Ghana, as well as his slogan “Forward Ever, Backward Never.”
“I enjoy so much working with the airline; they are all very polite and professional,” Taylor said. “I’m on time – I have never been late, not even one time, not even five minutes. If I get to the airport and the plane is delayed, I don’t come back to the house; I sleep in the car at the airport.
“If they are to arrive at two o’clock, and they come at 10 a.m., I’ll sit there at the airport and wait. I’ll bring them to the hotel and pick up the next group at 5:30 to the airport, and then I’ll come home and take a nap.”
To contact Taylor, call him at (601) 520-4816 or (601) 550-2440.
