Mr. Tyrone Weekley

On June 20, 1949, Tyrone Weekley was born to Mr. Frank and Jewel Weekley. He was born in Chicago Heights, Illinois, the third child of thirteen. Eight brothers: Tony, Harold, Willie, Vincent, Bradley, Kenneth, Frank, Reginald. Four sisters: Jeanette, Pamela, Carrie Dale, and Patricia. In his youth, Tyrone was best known for being an outstanding athlete, playing varsity basketball, football, and baseball at Bloom High School. This is where he met the woman he would spend the next fifty years of his life with, Gloria Jean Rush. The two began dating during their senior year in high school and stayed together after graduation. Tyrone went to college on a football scholarship first at Wayne State University and then Eastern New Mexico University. He graduated in 1971 with a business degree. On July 10, 1971, Tyrone and Gloria were wed at Christian Valley MB Church in Ford Heights, Illinois. On January 30, 1974, they welcomed their first born, a son, Mazimoyo (Zim) Kayode Weekley. Seven years later, their youngest joined the family on January 21, 1981, a daughter, Ayana Kai Weekley. Tyrone was a salesman by nature and by training. He went to work in sales in the booming black hair care industry at Johnson’s Products. This job led him and Gloria on some of their first adventures together, moving to Kansas City, KS, Indianapolis, IN, Cleveland, OH, and Atlanta, GA, before they returned to settle down in Illinois in 1983. After more than a decade at Johnson’s Products, Tyrone ventured out on his own to start his own business in a related field: a barbershop and hair salon called Prime Time. He opened Prime Time in the mid-nineties in his old neighborhood. The shop was on Lincoln Hwy in Chicago Heights, right up the street from Fifth Avenue, his childhood home. It was important to him to contribute to the place that shaped and molded him. Prime Time was in business for a little more than a decade and it was one of the accomplishments Tyrone was most proud of. In 1999, Tyrone and Gloria’s family gained one new member, a grandson, Elijah Rahzel Xavier Weekley born to Zim and his wife, Heidi. The following year, they welcomed their second child, Madelaine Zion Weekley, the second grandchild. Tyrone was a very proud husband, father, and grandfather, to a fault. He was always ready to tell anyone who would listen what his wife, children, or grandchildren were up to recently. In his later years, bragging on his family was one of the ways he showed us his love. Tyrone Weekley departed this life on Saturday, November 5, 2022. He is survived by his loving (feisty) wife, Gloria, of 51 years; his two children Zim (Heidi) and Ayana; two grandkids, Elijah and Madelaine; and a host of siblings, nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

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Mr. Tyrone Weekley

June 20, 1949 - November 5, 2022