Gloria Mary Worrell

Gloria was born in Detroit, Michigan on October 11th, 1924 to Armien and Esther Kirchoff. She was the middle child with two brothers who have preceded her in death, Kenneth and Benson. Her father built their home on Mansfield Street in Detroit and he worked as a plumber. He passed away when Gloria was about 15 years old and Esther started working at Ford Motor Company on the assembly line. After losing their home, they moved to Radimaker Street in Detroit.

Gloria completed high school in Detroit and continued her education with a few night courses in business and advertising. Her first job was at a Detroit bank as a teller. On one of her first days on the job she was handed 20,000 dollars and was told “you are our new cashier!” She decided she wanted to work in advertising so she wrote letters to the five biggest agencies in Detroit and was very proud that she landed a job at J. Walter Thompson in Detroit. She was married on Sept. 7th, 1951 at Greenfield Congressional Church in Dearborn to Robert (Bob) Worrell, who served as a Navy Commander in World War II. Bob and Gloria lived in an apartment in the Detroit area where Bob worked for Chrysler Automotive as a Chemical Engineer. They moved to a farmhouse in Ann Arbor while building their dream home just up the private drive from there on Northfield Church Road. She continued to work with her final job being at Xerox University Microfilms. Bob passed away in 1982. Gloria continued living in her dream home until shortly before her death.

Gloria loved animals. She owned many dogs over the years, as well as horses, and some cattle on her farm. She was a great seamstress, making costumes for her grand-nieces and grand-nephews, as well as tablecloths, clothing, and mending – if you had a pattern in mind, she would make it! Gloria was very active in her grand-nieces and grand-nephews lives, participating in school and family functions, often getting down on the floor to play games or cards with the kids. She was a gourmet cook, famous for her carrot cake and a Greek dish called Moussaka that was passed along to her from her best friend Pat. Gloria was an avid reader especially enjoying the legal thrillers written by John Grisham. She loved to travel and eat out, with her favorite local restaurants being Weber’s Inn and Knight’s Steakhouse both in Ann Arbor.

She passed away peacefully at Caretel Inns of Brighton.