Gloria Euler Twomey

Gloria Euler Twomey died in Santa Monica on September 7, 2016 at the age of 93, with loving members of her family at her side. Here are just a few of the highlights of this wonderful person’s life. Gloria Nancy Euler was born at home in Los Angeles on August 31st, 1923 to Edith Hudson Euler and Louis Joseph Euler. Gloria graduated from Catholic Girls’ High School on Pico Blvd in Los Angeles and from Immaculate Heart College (IMC) in Los Angeles with a major in English. Further studies at IMC equipped her with teaching credentials after which she taught senior high school English classes. Gloria first met Bob Twomey, to whom she would be married for 69 years, when she was 14. Gloria’s only sibling, Louis Euler Jr., and Bob were both radio amateurs (HAM operators). After talking to each other on their radio sets, they realized that they only lived about a mile and a half apart. Bob hopped on his bike and visited Louis where he met Gloria for the first time. Whenever Bob and other radio friends would meet at Louis’s, Gloria always joined the group where she was welcomed by all. Gloria and Bob never dated until after Bob was discharged from the Army, Asiatic Pacific Theater, in May of 1946. Their relationship progressed rapidly and they were soon engaged. Bob returned to UCLA to continue his engineering studies that had been interrupted by the war. After completing most of his courses at UCLA, he was required to finish his degree at U.C. Berkeley. Shortly before moving north, Gloria and Bob were married on June 28th, 1947. Gloria quit her teaching job and the newlyweds moved to Berkeley. After returning to Los Angeles, Bob joined the Engineering Department of Douglas Aircraft Company in Santa Monica. It was then that Gloria realized her true calling was to be a homemaker. She never returned to teaching. On March 2, 1950 Gloria became the loving mother of the first of their four children, Timothy (Nancy) followed by Bruce, Laurie (Joseph Turnage), and Scott (Karen). Her legacy also includes her seven grandchildren and four great-grand children.When the four children were old enough to have a baby sitter, Gloria’s desire to help her community took the form of a second calling as a volunteer at St. John’s Hospital in nearby Santa Monica. She started even before St. John’s had an organized volunteer program. She actively continued this service, contributing tens of thousands of hours over a record 52 years. She received commendations for her volunteer service from President Reagan, Senator Pete Wilson, Governor George Deukmejian, and the mayors of Santa Monica and Los Angeles, among others. She was known for her tender heart, compassionate people skills and outstanding human touch of which she gave so freely. Also at this time, Gloria and Bob developed a love for traveling to the United Kingdom. During their ten trips and fifteen thousand miles of driving on the other side of the road, they made many friends and created fond memories. After fifty years of volunteering at St. John’s Gloria decided it would be time for her to retire. That only lasted about two weeks. She missed the hospital and her cherished hospital friends, so she returned. Gloria always had a phenomenal memory for names and any personal information people cared to share with her. This gift of instant recall could go back several years and gave her the ability to helpfully greet patients and visitors who came to the hospital. Gloria knew most of the staff, from the gardener to the CEO, as well as all of the doctors, and they all knew her as well. During her last two years at St. John’s, Gloria sensed a diminishing ability to remember things. Medical examinations indicated she was entering the early stages of Alzheimer’s. She decided then that it was really time to retire and stay retired. Unfortunately the diagnosis was correct and over time her memory loss and the related problems became severe. Gloria spent the last year and a half of her life in the capable and caring hands of the Memory Care Unit of Sunrise of Santa Monica along with the full physical and emotional support of her whole family. Gloria peacefully passed away at 3:30 pm on Wednesday September 7th, 2016 with Bob holding her hand. Recitation of the Rosary will be Saturday morning, October 15 at 8:30 a.m. with a funeral mass to follow at St. Joan of Arc Church, 11534 Gateway Blvd., Los Angeles,California, 90064. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. John’s Health Center Foundation, Volunteer office, 310-829-8498.