Teresia Rosemary Gilyard (Samuels)

Teresia Rosemary Gilyard was born December 30th, 1950 in Kansas City, Missouri, to Alma Jean and Willie Sawyer Samuels. Mrs. Giyard was educated at Central Missouri State University where she earned her Bachelor’s in Education, her Master’s in Education and received a Graduate Education Specialist degree. She worked as a teacher, and then later a principal, when she retired from Southeast High School in 2007.

Teresia was a very accomplished woman, and spent her adult years as an advocate for her students and her community where she was raised. She was a civil rights activist, and was fundamental in creating change in Kansas City. Teresia met Frederick Gilyard in 1965. They were married on July 27th, 1973 and remarried on October 31th, 1999. They were blessed with one child, Kimberly Ann Gilyard on March 18th, 1977. 

Teresia enjoyed educating people, even well after her retirement. She loved to fish at the lake with her girlfriends, and she loved to be around children. She is well loved by so many of her students, some of whom she considered her own. Teresia was a home to the people she loved, she was support to her family when they had none, and a shoulder to cry on for her friends.

Mrs. Gilyard departed this life on February 4th, 2025. She leaves to cherish her memory, her husband Frederick Gilyard; her daughter Kimberly Leach; her god- daughter, LaTonya Wallace; her grandchildren Andrea, Jordon, Kylee, Jazzyln, and Andrew Leach; her great-granddaughter, Evelyn Potts; her dear friends Deborah Washum, Brenda Nanoski, and Deborah Ballard; and a host of family, friends, and relatives.