Gloria A. Gellert

Gloria Amador Gellert, of Yakima, in the Fourth week of Advent, on Friday, early Christmas Eve Day, our loving mother Gloria was peacefully guided away by her Guardian Angel, and saw the face of Jesus.

Mother

There is but one and only one,

Whose love will fail you never,

On earth there is no other.

In Heaven a noble work was done,

When God gave us our Mother

Gloria was the youngest and the last surviving four children of Juanita (Amador) and Domingo Clomera.

She was born on 27th of January 1927 in Manila, Philippines and moved to the United States in 1946 as a teenager. She never returned to Manila to see her family, however, she remained close through many letter exchanges, especially with her eldest sister Pat, she lovingly referred to as “Ching.”

Gloria entered higher education and chose sewing/tailoring for a profession while at the university. She possessed a unique gift of talent for creating fashion design and style. Eighteen years of age, Gloria met and fell in love with our father Ray Slocum, who was discharged from the U.S. Armed Forces in Manila,

Philippines. A year later, 1946 they married and returned to his hometown of Toronto, Ohio. Our father,

Switchman for Burlington Railroad, transferred and moved Gloria & family to Florida in 1955, which is where she lived most of her life. After settling in Florida, Gloria opened her own tailor business, Gloria of the Tropics, which was her personal handmade label. Our mother spent her entire professional life drawing/designing, creating, sewing, and tailoring. In Miami, she designed and tailored for popular musical artists of the 1970’s, brothers Robin and Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees. Through our earlier years, she enjoyed many leisure hours creating unique one-of-a-kind styles for us daughters Brenda & Cheryl, as well as granddaughter Laura, along with shirts for her son-in-laws. Our mother was capable of simply looking at a designed piece of clothing and creating a copy, much to her daughter’s delight, especially Cheryl, for who mother made the elegant prom dresses. She worked with intricate beading and sequins, and for most of her life she made all of her own clothes.

1978 was Gloria’s first move to Washington State (Eastside Lake Washington area), and where daughter

Cheryl resided at that time. She tailored for Macy’s (Bon Marche) and Nordstrom, and later returned to Florida in 1985, close to her other children & grandchildren. She enjoyed weekend special visits with grandchildren, and holiday visits to Atlanta to spend time with granddaughter Laura & twin great granddaughters Caroline & Catherine. Semi-retired, Gloria continued to tailor and ran a private alteration shop up until health issues in the spring of 2006. She recuperated in the Atlanta area with daughter Brenda, regained better health before moving back the following year to the Northwest and daughter Cheryl’s home. Gloria enjoyed the best possible health & medical care during her last three years, and thoroughly loved living independently in her 3rd floor studio apartment in the lovely assisted living community of Chesterley Meadows. Although our mother was always a quiet and private lady, she enjoyed and shared sincere concerns for her senior-family community, especially her special friends whom she shared meals at table. In earlier years, our mother would spend leisure time working the daily newspaper’s crossword puzzles. She loved the challenges of the games show and for relaxation she always had the latest popular movie DVD, which was mostly of the suspenseful drama genre. She remained an avid reader of mystery novels, reading 8-10 books every month provided by Yakima Library Outsource, enjoyed doing her own manicures, social/shopping group trips, her favorite ice cream desserts, Chinese food, and wearing stylish clothes. Since our mother was born into and raised Catholic, and because her faith remained most important, she enjoyed Eternal Word Television Network’s (EWTN) daily Mass telecast from Alabama, and received weekly visits by St. Paul volunteer Alma & the Sisters for her weekly Holy Communion.

Gloria is survived by her five children, daughter, Brenda and granddaughter, Laura (Jim Doran), twin great granddaughters, nine year old Catherine & Caroline of Duluth, Georgia; daughter, Cheryl (C Miykeilah

Roberts & Frank Omlin) Yakima, son Ray Howard Slocum, Jr. (Betty) and three granddaughters, Rebecca

(Frank), Cheryl Lynn & Tiffany (Ray); five great-grandchildren; daughter, Marcia (Martinez) and granddaughter, Stacey (John Kelly); and son, William (Billy); six grandchildren all of Tampa, Florida; niece,

Edna (Nestor Ugali/four children of Vancouver, BC); nephew, Michael and extended nieces & nephews of the Philippines.

She was the last of her immediate family & was preceded in death by her parents, Juanita & Domingo, infant sister, older sister “Ching” (Pat) and niece Marla; brother Emilio all of the Philippines; Gloria’s youngest daughter age five, Gloria Dale; and loving son-in-law Michael Malowney (Brenda).

“A Mother’s love is always with her children.”

Mother’s final gift of love was a Christmas blessing for Cheryl & Frank. It is hard to be left behind, yet peace, joy and love is always with you/us. Thank you, Mother. ~We miss you. Close in our hearts~

Prayer of St. Francis Of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of

Thy peace, where there is hatred,

let me sow love; where there is

injury, pardon; where there is

doubt, faith; where there is

despair, hope; where there is

darkness, light; and where there

is sadness, joy.

Oh Divine Master, grant that I

may not so much seek to be

consoled as to console; to be

understood as to understand; to

be loved, as to love; for it is in

giving that we receive, it is in

pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is dying that we are

born to eternal life.

A Mass was held at 10:00 a.m., Friday, New Year’s Eve Day, the Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas, in the Chapel of Holy Family Catholic Parish. Fr. John J. Murtagh was Celebrant.