Tory Height II

Tory London Height, II was born September 23, 2000 at 3:05 p.m. at Advocate Trinity Hospital in Chicago, IL.  He is survived by his father, Tory London Lewis; his loving mother, Sondra Denise Boyd (neé Jones) and stepfather, Oscar Clarence Boyd Jr., and three older sisters Tamara Camille Height of Chicago; Tatiana Cherelle Height of North Carolina; and Tyra Chevonne Height of Iowa.  His immediate family also includes grandparents, Roderick Height Jr. and Willie Ann Height and Ida Mae Height, uncles, Larry Jones, Jimmy (Meinyoda) Jones, Roderick (Valerick) Height, III,  Robert Jones and aunt Nina Boyd.

Tory, 18, was a soldier in the United States Army but he died in the metropolitan battlefield that the violence our inner cities has become.  Even though he was born in Chicago, he’d lived in Richmond, VA and his parents had been known to make Gary, IN their home.  At the time of Tory’s death, he resided in Gary, IN with his mother and stepfather in the Tarrytown neighborhood.  Although Tory did not have a home mosque, he considered himself a Muslim and had studied the Quran since the age of 10.

Tory London or “Trouble” as he was known to his friends, was the baby of four children and only son of the family.  Tory loved animals ( he was known to bring home strays to nurse them back to health),  he was dedicated to serving (a mindset that made the military a perfect match),  and he  a loyal friend who would protect you to the end.  Tory was human though so he had flaws, he loved ice cream and was a snack demon.  If you had snacks and he had eaten his, you’d better have had a really good hiding place!   Tory was one of the largest people in whatever room he walked into both energetically and physically  At age 10 he began body building and it eventually led to the commanding presence we knew.

Tory enlisted in the National Guard Reserve and on December 16, 2017 graduated Fort Benning 54th Battalion, 2nd Platoon.  Tory was a senior at West Side Leadership Academy and was scheduled to graduate June 8th, 2019.  He was considering Army active duty when he graduated his job training this coming summer but he also had a love for the study of sports medicine and he was a very gifted musician.  While Tory was very gifted, the only thing that was certain was that whatever path he chose his star was sure to shine brightly.

Tory was born under the star sign Libra and was actually very romantic.  He was very witty and loved to laugh.  Tory had a very compassionate heart and a never ending capacity to serve others.  One life long dream was to own and invest in gas stations to help set up gentrification in low income neighborhoods.  Tory was known to work twice as hard as the next man and often said he was looking for his next wife as he had given his mom a ring when his parents divorced when he was age 5.  The leading ladies in his life were his mother, Sondra and his sister, Tyra whom he shared special bonds with.  

Tory’s favorite hobbies were writing and music.  He wrote books, poems and lyrics.  Tory even competed in and won spoken word competitions.  Although he didn’t feel that he was good at it, Tory loved to dance and didn’t need a hype man.  Although he was the baby, he left the biggest footprint behind; however his legacy will live on through his big sisters.

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