Mary Gloria Knight

Gloria was born on July 15, 1924, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Fred Jr. and Mary Elizabeth Forster (nee Sviatko). The oldest of five children, and the only girl, she helped her mother raise her four younger brothers during the Great Depression.

After completing high school, she worked as a secretary in a paper mill just before the start of World War II. After the end of the war, Gloria married James Walter Knight and began a family of her own. She had four sons, a very similar situation from helping to raise her four younger brothers.

Gloria and her family moved to Austin, Texas, in 1954, where she began a long and successful career with Sears & Roebuck. In 1972, she and her family moved to Bastrop, Texas, where she was employed with the Austin-American Statesman as an office manager along with her husband, who was a newspaper carrier. A devout Catholic, Gloria was an active member of Ascension Catholic Church for over 20 years and volunteered much of her time in service to the church.

In the early 1990's, she and her husband Jim retired to Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, but later returned to Austin, Texas, in 1999 to be closer to her family.

Gloria is survived by two brothers, Fred and sister-in-law, Catherine Forster, and Philip Forster; two sisters-in-law, Gail Chester and Barbara Dunn; four sons, Thomas Knight, Stephen and daughter-in-law, Glenda Knight, Christopher and daughter-in-law, Sharon Knight, and Alan Knight; six grandchildren; and, eleven great-grandchildren.

Graveside services will be held at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, June 14, 2014 at Cook-Walden/Forest Oaks Memorial Park with Reverend James Evans to officiate.