“She will be missed.” It’s a phrase that we hear often but I don’t believe we fully appreciate its meaning.

To me, to be missed is to impact a person's life so much that your absence alters their psyche. Miss. Gillard (fondly known as Miss. G), was a force of real old school, “black love”. If you knew her, then you know how difficult it would be to reflect on your time at Morgan State University without mentioning her name.

Growing up, my father would advise me that people often confuse “love” with being a syrupy sweet emotion that’s always pleasant, easy, and comfortable. But, true love is correction, it’s truth and it’s enduring.

Well, that was Miss. G.

She bragged on us and clowned us. She loved us while she was cursing us out.

When I walked onto the campus of Morgan in 1998, I had already made up my mind that my next four years were going to feel like the best episodes of “A Different World”…and they were. Jason and I were a new age Dwayne and Whitely, and Ms. G. was the grit of Vernon Gains, the cutting humor of Sinbad, and the “I wish a muthafucka would” of Dean Davenport.

Miss. Gillard loved hard and her bark was far worse than her bite (granted her tongue was indeed lethal). She didn’t back down from a fight, especially when it came to us. We were her children and Morgan State was her home. She bled blue and orange and she took pride in watching former students thrive in the world.

Miss. Gillard became a part of who we all are…and she will be missed.