Taylor and Shawn Carpenter

Will {Taylor} stood with Lucas as Belle announced to everyone that Chloe Lane was sick and they were going to have bone marrow drive for her. {7/02/02}

Will came running over to Sami, yelling "Mommy, mommy." {7/02/02}

Will {Taylor} told Sami he was scared. Then Abby came over and told Sami that Will was scared of the meteor shower because they could come down and hit them. Sami said, "ABBY!" and then Abby ran off. This was one of Will's only scenes with his cousin Abby. {7/02/02}

Lucas came over to see what was wrong with Will. Will asked Lucas if meteor showers were going to happen in Africa too. Lucas said no and Sami was upset that Lucas hadn't said anything to her about taking Will to Africa to go spend time with Bill. {7/02/02}

Lucas pointed out the fireworks to Will. Will {Shawn} was looking somewhere else. Then he spotted the fireworks too.{7/02/02}

Sami came over and took Will from Lucas. She, too, pointed out the fireworks. Sami looked like she was going to cry when she first picked Will up, but she held it back, trying not to be upset about Will leaving. {7/02/02}

When the fireworks were done, Sami walked away with Will. Lucas followed and said it was time for bed. They were leaving in the morning. Sami, almost in tears, "It's not his bedtime, Lucas." {7/02/02}

Sami then said, "Hey, honey. You are going to have so much fun with your daddy this summer. I can't wait to hear all about it when you return." Will agreed, nodding his head. {7/02/02}

Sami started to cry and Lucas took that as his cue to take Will. Taylor's last line was, "I love you too mommy." {7/02/02}

Shawn turned around and gave one last wave. This episode marked Shawn and Taylor's 389th appearance in the role of William Robert Reed-Roberts. This is remarkable for a child actor in a soap opera role. They started out as 6 week old infants, who were "still pink" in their mom's words, and grew into 6 year old little boys with distinct personalities. They are the longest-running child actors on Days and the only actors to originate a role as a baby and play him into his school years. {7/02/02}

While Shawn and Taylor {pictured in our goodbye banner on the left} were unique as soap actors, being in a role from birth to age 6, it's this fact that also led to their recast. Days decided they wanted to make Will a stronger, more significant character, so they chose to cast a child actor with specific training in acting. Ali Sweeney, who played their onscreen mom for those 6 1/2 years misses them, but understands. She says, "Shawn and Taylor are great kids - very active & fun to be around - but right from the beginning they learned to be 'quiet on the set'. They never really got over that...they just had fun coming to the set, hanging out with me, Bry & Austin. I think they are going to have a great, normal life."