Glenda B Gismondi

Thursday, August 19, 2021, at 6 pm, Glenda Viola Brown Gismondi returned to God. Her eternal life that began here as intimacy with the One she loved became unveiled and unhindered by the things of this world. She now sees face to face.

Her life on this earth began in Doerun, Georgia on February 18, 1943. She met her husband of 58 years, Pedro Abimael Gismondi, a Peruvian studying to be a music minister in the US, at the First Baptist Church of Doerun in the summer of 1961. While skating at a church social, she tripped and fell on him. They were married two years later, June 1, 1963.

After graduating from Tift College in 1964, she became an elementary school teacher and a mom.

For six decades, she worked alongside Pedro, first as he changed his focus to medicine, later as he finished his residency at the Mayo Clinic, then as he practiced medicine here in Oklahoma City. In the early 2000’s, Pedro quit his practice and took up medical missions full-time. With Pedro, she formed Regency Ministries International, through which they organized medical mission trips to Peru and offered free medical help and Christ-focused counseling here in Oklahoma City.

She was faithful in all things, serving with Pedro as a wife, a mother, a Bible teacher, and a prayer warrior. She believed in the power and intimacy of prayer—the intimacy that prayer brings with God and among believers. At the end of her life here, she and Pedro had a morning routine. A cup of coffee. A bowl of multi-grain Cheerios with nuts, peaches, and goat milk. Then together, a time of Bible reading and a time of prayer.

She filled herself with God. She filled a room because God filled her.

As the nurses came into the hospital room after her homegoing, unhooking tubes, turning off machines, they commented, "She was a sweet woman."

Yes, she was.

“He who comes to me, I will in no wise cast out.” Those were the words of her Lord, and those were the words she lived. More than one person commented on her wide open-armed reception upon meeting her—and her strong, Southern bear hug. She accepted others as they were.

She was full of the light of God. She loved mercy. She loved others because she loved God. She loved fellowship with Him. Her service was an overflow of that fellowship.

That is her legacy.

Proverbs says, “A wise man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” She left a spiritual heritage, teaching by example. She taught her family to pray. She taught them to read their Bibles. She taught them to pray their Bibles. With Pedro, she taught them what a Godly marriage was supposed to look like. She gave her children and grandchildren a solid foundation.

On the day that she went home, she was welcomed by her Lord, Savior, and Friend. There also were her mother and father, Francis and Willie. Her aunts and uncles: Mert, Kat, Sara, Ed, among others. Her granddaddy Posey and Mama Posey. Her friends, Kay Larsen and Helen Williams. The sibling that she never knew. The daughter that she was sure was a daughter. Many others.

She is enjoying her mansion, full of the gardens she loved here—and undoubtedly full of trains. And red cabooses. She is baking cookies again. Running again. Hiking. Playing with the dogs she loved. Lots of dogs. Ginger. Both Augies. Toby. Jasper. Blue.

Most especially, she is spending unhindered, intimate time with the Friend she loved.

Someday soon, she will run to meet us. Her husband Pedro. Her sons: Mark, Michael, and Matthew. Her daughters-in-love: Tammy and Maddy. Her grandchildren: Asher, Ana, Pierce, Caleb, and Daniella.

And so many friends.

[Glenda’s memorial will be held at Metropolitan Bible Church (7201 W Britton Rd) at 2 pm, Friday, September 24.

Glenda’s request: dress for a wedding, not a funeral.]

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.billmerrittfuneralservice.com for the Gismondi family.