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Please email death notices to obits@nfda.org. Please include complete information, along with a contact name and telephone number. If a death notice has been published online, please include a link to it.

If you are notifying us of the death of an immediate family member, state their relationship to the funeral director and affiliation to the funeral home.

Death notices will be considered for publication on the NFDA website and in The Director magazine as space allows.

Samuel Teolis

funeral director and owner, Samuel Teolis Funeral Home, Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, died November 25, 2021, at age 95. Teolis enlisted in the U.S. Army November 20, 1944, served with the 101st Infantry Replacement Company in the 3rd Army and received a bronze star for the battle of central Europe. He then reenlisted for an extra year in November 1945 and was transferred to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and served in the occupation of Korea until his discharge in December 1946 with the 7th Infantry Division.

Teolis was a licensed barber who owned and operated a barber shop from 1954-55. He also worked part time in various shops for more than 30 years.

He graduated from Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science, and after working at funeral homes in New Castle and Ellwood City, he founded Samuel Teolis Funeral Home and Crematory. Teolis was also appointed as a deputy coroner for Lawrence County and served in that position from 1956-70 and again from 1983 until his retirement from the office in 2006.

Teolis was elected to the Ellwood City School Board in 1957, serving until 1963. He was instrumental in the building of the Lincoln High School cafeteria and giving all school employees funeral leave. In 1965, Teolis was elected mayor of Ellwood City and served in that position until 1970. In 1969, he was awarded the Outstanding Citizen Award from the Ellwood City Chamber of Commerce. He also designed and raised funds for all the monuments of war dead in Legion Park and other memorials in Ellwood City.

In 2012, Teolis was awarded the U.S. Army Chief of Chaplains Medal of Excellence for his years of service to veterans and their families.

Teolis was a member of the Ellwood City Wolve’s Club, American Legion Post 157, Disabled American Veterans of Lawrence County 112, former VFW Post 252, VFW Post 8106 in New Galilee, the Beaver Lawrence County Veterans Honor Guard, Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association, NFDA, Sons of Italy 608, Knights of Columbus, Ellwood City Historical Society and Ellwood City Moose 93.

He is survived by children David, Dianne, Anthony and Samuel; and his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

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