Debra and Gerald "Skip" Sayres

Debra “Debbie” Sayres and Gerald “Skip” Sayres met in their senior year at Bardstown High School in Bardstown, Kentucky. After graduating in May of 1973, Debbie and Skip started their college careers at WKU. They were both active as students. Skip was a member of the Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity, and Debbie was a member of Kappa Delta sorority. Both held various offices within the organizations. They were married in May of 1977, and after graduating from the Gordon Ford College of Business, they moved to Louisville, Kentucky.

While in Louisville, Debbie and Skip began their careers and put down roots. They had two children. Debbie was employed in the accounting department of Bramco, the parent company for several heavy equipment companies. Skip worked at Northwestern Mutual Life, Clark Forklift, and Lantech. At Lantech, Skip moved through the sales department and became the National Sales Manager. In 1990, they decided to move their family to Shreveport, Louisiana, to join RSI Building Products, a roofing material distribution business his father had started five years earlier.

For the past 30 years, they have been busy in Shreveport and growing their company to six locations with a diversified product offering. Their company received the Outstanding Business of the Year award in 1996, 2001, 2008, and 2018. Debbie and Skip have always felt strongly about giving back to their community and have been involved in several non-profit organizations in the area. Both are deacons in their church and have held various positions on several church and church-school committees. Skip has served on the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce board and various positions in national building material organizations.

In September of 2020, they sold their company. They now enjoy semi-retirement. They spend time visiting their children and seven grandchildren who live in Texas and Washington, traveling, and, for Skip, playing golf.

Although they have been separated from the WKU campus for many years by distance, they continue to look back on their college days as a great experience and attribute their education with much of their success in life. To further give back to the university, Debbie and Skip established the Debra and Gerald “Skip” Sayres Scholarship Fund in 2021. This fund assists deserving full-time WKU students who are majoring within the Gordon Ford College of Business. First preference is given to students who demonstrate financial need, with second preference given to students who graduated from a high school in Nelson County, Kentucky. Through this fund, Debbie and Skip’s legacy at WKU lives on in perpetuity.