Leola "Teenie" Ward-Clayton

Leola Ward Clayton, 73, was born April 4, 1950 to Nelson Ward Sr. and Josephine Moore Ward in Pickens, Arkansas. The family moved to Liberal, Kansas in 1957. Leola was the sixth of eleven children, and she accepted the lord, Jesus Christ, as her savior at an early age. She was called home to glory on September 11, 2023.

After graduating from Liberal High School in 1970, Leola moved to Wichita, Kansas where she went to work for Henry’s Department Store as a seamstress. She later became a PBX operator for St. Francis Hospital for many years. While there she met and married her husband Ruben Darnell Clayton II. Within this union they shared a son, Koury (Trista) Clayton, and two step-daughters Angela James (Kerry) and Anmashell Clayton.

After leaving St. Francis then worked for her beloved Wichita Collegiate School where she enjoyed many years of service until she retired in 2020. She believed her most important work involved raising children, her pets (Mocha, Blanca and Nala) and her plants, which were at the center of her heart. 

Leola was preceded in death by her parents, three brothers: Dr. Robert B. Lewis, David Cleveland Ward and Michael Maurice Ward, and one sister Eddie Jean Walker.

She leaves to cherish her: her husband and three children, six siblings: Verdi Turner, Maelene Dorrough (V.O.), Odie Mae Hunt, Shirley Faye Ward, Rose Mary Richard (Joseph Clayton), Nelson E. Ward Jr. (Joyce) and sister-in-law Dr. Joyce Kelly Lewis. She also leaves 18 grandchildren, many nephews and nieces, cousins, friends and their families.

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