Slain Teacher Cynthia Trevillion Remembered At Funeral
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Family, friends, students, and colleagues gathered Tuesday morning to say goodbye to a beloved teacher who was shot and killed last week in the Rogers Park neighborhood.
At the memorial service at Christian Community Church in Ravenswood, loved ones remembered 64-year-old Cynthia Trevilion as a woman who believed kindness is the key to life.
Trevillion and her husband were trying to catch a train at the Morse station on the CTA Red Line on Friday on their way to dinner, when someone drove past them and opened fire on the crowd on the street. An unintended target of the gunfire, Trevillion was shot in the neck, and died a short time later at the hospital.
She was a teacher at Chicago Waldorf School in Rogers Park. The school canceled classes on Tuesday so faculty and students could attend her funeral.
Before teaching at Waldorf, Trevillion also worked at schools in Ann Arbor and Detroit. She spent the last 14 years teaching in Chicago. Her former colleagues from Detroit spoke about channeling their grief into action.
"I know for her, for myself as well, and for her friends that this violence, if it can become more conscious so there can be some action around that, I think that could be also part of her legacy," Mary Jo Oresti said.
Dzvinka Hayda said she doesn't know that she's processed her former co-worker's death yet.
"I'm still in mourning, and not looking towards what impact this is going to have," she said.
Trevillion's funeral included songs sung by her co-workers, and a musical performance by her friends.
Mourners comforted each other outside the church before heading into the private ceremony.
Pallbearers later solemnly carried her casket out of the church and into a hearse around 10:45 a.m. for her burial.
Trevillion's unexpected death also touched those who didn't know her. Monday night, hundreds of people gathered outside the Morse Red Line station where she died, to hold a vigil, and discuss strategies to reduce gun violence with police and city leaders.
An online fundraiser for Trevillion's funeral raised more than $31,000.
A larger celebration of Trevillion's life has been planned for Saturday afternoon at Waldorf.
