Gloria Nasser Barnett Hulme

A funeral service was held for her at Trinity Episcopal Church, 520 11th St., Huntington, WV 25701, on Friday, August 16, 2024, at 10:00 am. Interment at Woodmere Memorial Park was held immediately afterward.

A memorial service in Gloria’s honor will be held on Saturday, November 9th at 10 am Christ Episcopal Church, 120 E. Edenton St., Raleigh NC. A reception will immediately follow the service at the church.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Trinity Episcopal Church, Huntington, WV, or to Christ Episcopal Church, Raleigh, NC.

Gloria was the oldest of three children and was born in Huntington, West Virginia on July 5, 1944, where she and her siblings grew up. Her parents, Toufeek and Margie Nasser immigrated from the Middle East after World War I and lived the American dream, teaching their children to appreciate their Arab heritage and love the life in America which they felt privileged to earn and enjoy through their work and perseverance. Her father was an entrepreneur and started a business which became one of the region’s most elegant and renowned multi-level department stores. Growing up, Gloria and her siblings frequently spent time with their extended family including aunts, uncles and cousins who visited frequently and shared a close connection through a heritage that originated in what they nostalgically referred to as “The Old Country” which included Syria and Lebanon.

Gloria graduated from Huntington High School and subsequently the University of Kentucky (BS, Education; 1966). She started her career in teaching at middle schools in Cleveland, OH. During this time, she married her first husband, and they had two children: her son Alexander Bradley Barnett and daughter Nicole Michelle Barnett, whom she loved dearly. They settled in Nashville, TN, where Nicole was born, but when she became a single mother, Gloria decided to relocate closer to her siblings and so she moved her family (Alex, Nicki, and their dog, Snoopy) to Raleigh, NC. Later, in Raleigh she fell in love with and married her current husband, Stephen Hulme. Stephen and Gloria lived in west Raleigh and were members of Christ Episcopal Church for 35 years and shared many common interests including history, literature, music, the arts, sailing, travel, and commitment to family and a network of close friends.

Gloria was devoted to her family and children. She frequently took her Nicole and Alex to visit her parents, siblings, and cousins in Huntington for holidays and summer breaks, and often attended the annual Kfierian family reunions where their extended family would travel from across the U.S. and around the world to gather each year. Gloria was also active and committed to nurturing culture and experiences for her children. She put together regular family outings for herself, Alex and Nicki ranging from symphony performances to rock concerts to college basketball games to sailing lessons to beach and fishing trips at the NC coast. She also balanced her continued professional endeavors including part-time substitute teaching in Raleigh Public Schools for many years.

Gloria’s passion for the arts came through in a broad array of interests she developed over her lifetime. She loved art of all types and developed an affinity for renaissance and baroque Italian art. She traveled to Italy with her sister Shirley, and later with her husband Steve to view the great works in Rome and Assisi, and following her travels, she and Steve immersed in Italian language lessons together. Gloria also loved viewing the paintings and sculptures of the great masters, visiting galleries across the U.S. including New York, Philadelphia, and Washington DC with her sister Shirley and daughter Nicki. Her passion for art and talent as a teacher made her one of the North Carolina Museum of Art’s most sought-after and well-known docents, and she led public walking tours of the NCMA collection for 36 years. Upon her retirement from the docents in 2015, she was humbled to receive an award from the State of North Carolina at a commemorative ceremony held in her honor. She also took up photography and was active with her camera for over 25 years capturing landscapes, portraits, nature scenes, and architecture. She displayed her prints in competitions and even offered some at the shows for public purchase, and she also served as the volunteer photographer for her children’s high school performances.

Gardening and cultivating flowers were one of Gloria’s deepest areas of interest and passion. At one time she maintained over 50 orchids in her in-home ‘growing room’ and later branched into a broad variety of roses. She cultivated and designed beautiful, extensive, rose gardens throughout her yard and shared her love of flowers and color with all who passed by. She was also an active member of the Southern Garden History Society for many years.

Gloria was a life-long learner and her interests in gaining new skills and knowledge spanned multiple areas. She was an avid tennis player for over 2 decades, playing in leagues at the Raleigh Racquet Club and passing the love of sport on to her two children. When the opportunity arose to learn skiing in the Smoky Mountains of NC, she found time on occasion to hit the slopes and learn how to carve turns. Gloria, with Steve’s encouragement, also developed her capabilities as a boater, attending a sailing academy in the inner banks of NC to learn how to pilot and navigate sailboats. She and Steve loved traveling to the coast, sailing the intercoastal waterways, and staying at Matthews Point where the 37’ sailboat they owned was moored.

She also maintained a connection with learning through an ongoing study of undergraduate and graduate courses at the local universities, and took many courses at North Carolina State in Art History and English Literature throughout her 40’s and 50’s. After completing what amounted to a full set of pre-requisites and pursuing a concentration in English, she received a second bachelor’s degree from the NC State English Department, cum laude, in 2004. Gloria was also introduced to the Raleigh Woman’s Club by her sister in-law Candy’s family and was an active member for 41 years.

Gloria leaves a legacy with her children. Nicole is a graduate of East Carolina University and has a career as a designer with Miller-Knoll and has designed health care facilities in the US, Dubai, and across the Middle East. Alex graduated from UNC Chapel Hill (BA) and the University of Washington (MBA), lives with his wife and two children in Seattle and serves as a global head of business development with Amazon.

Gloria was preceded in death by her mother, Margie Catherine Zouhary Nasser and her father, Toufeek Abu Nasser.

Gloria’s memory will always be honored by her husband, Stephen, of Raleigh NC; her daughter, Nicole Barnett, of Norristown, PA; her son and daughter-in-law, Alexander and Barrett Barnett; her grandchildren, Miles Barnett and Averil Barnett, of Seattle, WA. She is the beloved sister of Shirley Nasser, of Henrico, VA and her brother and sister-in-law, Raymond and Candy Nasser, of Midlothian, VA. Their children are Kathryn Nasser of Durham, NC and Jeffrey Nasser of Richmond, VA.

“Well done, thou good and faithful servant: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Matthew 25:23).

Service arrangements provided by both Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, 300 Saint Mary's St., Raleigh, NC, and Klingel-Carpenter Mortuary, 328 6th Avenue, Huntington, WV 25701.