Gloria M Manetta

9/18/1925 – 12/8/2021

Near midnight on December 7, Mom must have realized that if she wanted to spend their 79th wedding anniversary dancing with Dad, it was time to go. We talked to her and held her hand until she was ready to say goodbye, and after almost 13 years apart, we know they’re happy to be together again.

Born September 18, 1925 in Tela, Spanish Honduras, to George M. Nash Brayton and Mildred E. DeSouza, Gloria moved from Utila Bay Island, Honduras to Florida at the age of 10 with her mother, brother Bill, and half-sister Evelyn. Her parents divorced, and her father, then working for United Fruit Company, remained in Central America. Gloria missed her grandmother, Virginia DeSouza, and spoke of her often throughout her life. Eventually Florida felt like home, with stays in DeLand, Lake Helen, Casadaga, and finally Tampa, where, in 1941, while working at Newberry’s Pharmacy, she met the young Army-Air Force soldier she would marry on December 8, 1942, Clarence A. ‘Mac’ Manetta. As a military wife, Gloria finally got to see more of the USA than Florida! They raised three children, each born at a different duty station, but whenever Mac was on an unaccompanied tour, Gloria, with children in tow, returned ‘home’ to Tampa.

Mom loved life, and she loved her kids! She knew we could grow up to be anything we wanted to be, and she never failed to let us know how much faith she had in us. Mom sang and read to us at an early age, and instilled a deep love of reading and music that persists to this day. We woke to music, sang our way across the country more than once, and all sang in Chamberlain High School choruses. She also loved dancing, a passion that wasn’t passed on as easily, much to her chagrin. Especially when we were small, we girls wore beautiful ruffled dresses she sewed on her trusty Singer machine; she was still sewing well into her 80’s, and always enjoyed finding just the right material and turning it into just the right dress. Our brother, sadly, had to settle for store-bought clothes.

Home always included much-loved pets, and we are comforted in our loss by our own beloved pets, thanks to our parents’ example. Mom was also a good cook, and wherever we lived the aroma of pinto beans and rice was a staple. She adored babies, and was baby-sitter for many future military leaders at the Air Force Academy in Colorado in the late 50’s and early 60’s. She kept up with ‘her’ babies and their families through long letters, often running to 10 pages! And pictures! She loved to take pictures, especially with her pink and grey Polaroid Swinger, and faithfully wrote names and dates on the reverse of nearly all of them. We have boxes of photographs to enjoy and treasure. She had a fun and quirky sense of humor, and a wonderful laugh, but could be so serious it often took her a while to get the punch line in a joke. Dad’s favorite aside was ‘she’ll laugh tomorrow!’ She was brave, strong, and insecure all at the same time. At the end, inside, she was still that little girl broken hearted at leaving behind her beloved Nannie when she left Utila. She always doubted that she was smart enough, pretty enough, a good enough person. Mom, you were all those things and more. We love you; we miss you.

Mom had a deep faith in God, and trusted that there was a hereafter where she would be reunited with the family and friends who had gone before her job here was finished. She leaves behind her three children, Kathleen Goodman (Larry), Sandi Soto (John), and Bobby Manetta (Rita), and two grandchildren, Stacy Manetta and Simon Manetta (Lara). She was predeceased by her beloved husband and her infant son Robert Earle. A memorial service will be held January 15, 2022, at 1:00 pm, at Temple Terrace Community Church Chapel.

Special thanks to her wonderful friends, Claudia Williams and Cyndi McNally, who with daughter Sandi helped her reach her 96th birthday and beyond. Because of them, she was never alone in her last year, and was able to stay in her daughter’s home. Thanks also to Mobile Physicians Services for exceptional care in her final months, and to Dr. Hugo Narvarte, USF Internal Medicine, for always being there when we needed him.