Gloria Lavon Dorsey

Gloria spent her younger years in Memphis, where she went to elementary school and graduated from Booker T. Washington High School. She was baptized at New Bethel Baptist Church, and later became a member of Mount Paran Missionary Baptist Church under Rev. B. T. Dumas.

From her unions in marriage she had four beautiful children; Valerie Jean, Sunseaah Rae, Johnetta Patricia, and Frank Tyrone. Gloria was a strong, independent single mother and she enjoyed her life with her children. During her time in Memphis, she was president of the Porter Junior High School PTA, delivering a speech on raising children, and again in June 1959, when she was the speaker of the evening at her church, delivering a speech titled “Youth at the Crossroads.”

In 1967, Gloria brought her family from Memphis to Phoenix, AZ. She came to Phoenix with only three of her kids, and she leaves behind a legacy of 52. This move allowed many family members to experience the desert life in the Wild West. In July 1994, she was so proud to host the Bell Family Reunion so, as she would say, “to share our normal 120-degree heat, rattlesnakes, dust and cactus.” Gloria loved adventure and travel. She was well read and informed on so many subjects, especially the bible, history and travel. She consistently kept up with her entire family, no matter where they were. She was very proud to talk about all of her grandchildren, and could tell you how many there were to the exact number. She loved to cook and sew, but her favorite hobbies by far had to be crocheting and quilting. She made sure everyone she loved, friends or family, had an afghan, a quilt or a pillow quilt. Her quilting was so beautiful, in June 1989, she had a masterpiece quilt placed in the Black Fashion Museum and later moved to the new Black History Museum in Washington, D.C. Gloria was a firm believer in celebrating holidays, making sure everyone had they best time God could offer. She was the life and laughter of everything, and everyone who came into her presence left with a smile of their face and joy in their hearts.

Gloria was call home on September 25, 2019. She passed away peacefully in her sleep amongst her family. To everyone she was pure love.

Gloria leaves three daughters Valerie Lucious (Major), Sunseaah Rae Mason (Jimmie), Johnetta Dorsey and one son Frank Dorsey (Pauline); 11 grandchildren; 30 great grandchildren; 11 great-great grandchildren; three sisters Maxine Patton (Edward), Thelma Lay and Fleta Lay, a host of nieces and nephews and lots of friends to celebrate her life.

Standing at Heaven’s gates to welcome her were Frank Bell and Doyle Lay (fathers), Amanda Bell (mother), Alma Bragg, Dorothy Andrews, Murdell Bell, Norma Martin, and Ollie Williams (sisters), Claude Bell and Doyle Lay Jr. (bothers), Stephanie Mason (granddaughter), Tyrone Dorsey (grandson), Pauline Dorsey (daughter-in-law), and Major Lucious (son-in-law).