TAYLOR TAKES PERSON OF THE YEAR

Traci Taylor, the 19-year-old leukemia patient who started the Toy Train at Southeast Missouri Hospital, posthumously won the Weekly Reader's Person of the Year poll.

The online poll closed Friday, and Traci garnered 75 percent of the votes. Pop singer Britney Spears had 11 percent of the vote, President Clinton received 7 percent and professional basketball player Shaquille O'Neal came in last with 4 percent.

Traci's mother, Donna Taylor, said the family is honored that Traci was selected to be in the poll.

"She was really very special," Donna Taylor said. "It seems like a lot of people recognize that in her, and that makes us very proud. It shows her spirit is still alive."

Traci, who battled leukemia for 13 years, died Feb. 13, 2000. In 1992, she started the Toy Train, a special cart filled with crafts, games and books to cheer up children in the pediatric ward at Southeast.

Weekly Reader publishes educational material for students in elementary and secondary schools. Messages left for the Weekly Reader public relations department were not returned.

Jeanne Essner, a registered nurse on the pediatric floor at the hospital, said the staff was pulling for Traci to win the poll.

"She had great courage to battle her illness, but she didn't complain and dwell on it," she said.

Donna Taylor and her husband, Pat, with the help of volunteers, continue to distribute toys on the toy train each week at the hospital.