Gloria Wise

December 21,1930 – April 3, 2018 Gloria Johnston Wise died peacefully, surrounded by her family, in her Santa Fe home on April 3rd, 2018. She was born as a child of the Great Depression on December 21, 1930, in Kensett, Arkansas, to Fred Johnston, a railroad conductor, and Opal Hall Johnston. Gloria graduated from Heber Springs High School as a championship basketball player and then went to Hendrix College, a Methodist Liberal Arts school, graduating in 1952. With limited career choices for women at the time, she was offered a clerk position at the Central Intelligence Agency in Washington, DC, and a position in the Junior Executive Training Program at Neiman Marcus. She moved to Dallas in the summer of 1952 to work for Neiman Marcus. One day, working behind the glove counter at Neiman Marcus, she caught the eye of her future husband, Marvin Wise, a young attorney recently back from his Fulbright Fellowship in England. After buying gloves from her during his lunch break three days in a row, he finally got the courage to ask her out on what would become a happy and powerful 55-year partnership. When Marvin was not moving fast enough on a wedding proposal, Gloria left Neiman's to become an American Airlines flight attendant, flying each week to Mexico City, Washington DC, and Boston. On her weekly Friday evening flights from Washington to Boston, she got to know the junior Senator from Massachusetts, who invited her to go sailing during her layover. As Marvin grew less comfortable with her jet-set life, he proposed. Gloria was fiercely independent her entire life, and despite the religious differences and the disapproval of both families, Gloria accepted and started planning their wedding. By their wedding day, seeing how truly in love they were, both families relented and came to Dallas to celebrate on September 29, 1954. Soon thereafter, Gloria became a full-time mother, raising three children under the age of six.

In 1963, Gloria and Marvin moved their expanding family into the 1911 house on University Boulevard built by the Bishop that started SMU and Highland Park United Methodist Church. Gloria was a gracious hostess that made everyone feel at home, and their spacious home quickly became the social gathering spot for their friends as Gloria and Marvin became more involved in politics, arts, and civic affairs. Gloria loved bright colors and bright people and their home was always filled with both. Gloria was happy to support Marvin’s law practice as his hostess and goodwill ambassador, and could throw a good party on short notice. She was very involved in the lives of her three energetic children as a Park Cities mother. She was never judgmental, and all of her friends and her children’s friends were welcomed in her home as one of her own. Despite the demands of being a good mother, she continued to lead an active social and civic life. Social justice was always important to Gloria, and after the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, she worked with the League of Women Voters going to the churches and schools in South Dallas to register African Americans to vote. With her other committed liberal friends, she worked tirelessly on her important causes like Another Mother for Peace and Common Cause. Her political work included the election of her longtime friend and compatriot Ann Richards, as the second female Governor of Texas. Education was always important to Gloria and, in the mid-1970’s, she retired her carpool station wagon and went to work for Southern Methodist University as assistant to the dean of what is now Dedman College. In that role, she managed the issues that rose to the Dean’s office, planned nationally recognized seminars and ran the SMU in Oxford program. Great design and architecture were also important to Gloria, and when her last child graduated from SMU, she became the Executive Director of the Dallas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. During the real estate downturn of the late 1980’s, she worked hard to keep the profession together at a time of little new construction or architectural work. After a successful ten-year tenure as the Executive Director, she was made an Honorary member of the American Institute of Architects. Retiring in 2000, she and her sister, Sam, bought and renovated a home in Santa Fe and in 2010, at age 80, she built herself an award-winning contemporary house in the Urban Reserve community in Dallas.

Gloria enjoyed a wide circle of interesting friends and for 60 years helped organize an annual New Year's Eve celebration. With few vices, other than enjoying Mexican food, good movies and being proud of the many accomplishments of her children and grandchildren, Gloria spent much of her last years traveling with friends and family and perfecting the art of being an indulgent mother and grandmother.

Gloria was predeceased by her husband of 55 years, Marvin Wise, and is survived by her sister, Sammye Johnston of Little Rock, Arkansas; son Philip Wise and his wife Melissa Wise of Dallas, Texas; daughter Jenny Kimball and her husband Rob Kimball of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Paradise Valley, Arizona; daughter Amy Allen and her husband Brett Allen of Houston, Texas; grandchildren, Alex Akra and her husband George Akra, Stephen Wise, Madeline Allen and Molly Allen; and great-grandchildren Elizabeth and Samuel Akra.

Gloria was a happy and optimistic spirit who created a wonderful life for all around her. A celebration of Gloria’s life will be held on Sunday, April 8, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. in the Founder’s Room of the Dallas Museum of Art. Valet parking will be provided at the Flora Street entrance.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Alzheimer's Foundation, in memory of Marvin Wise, alzfdn.org, Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, 322 8th Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10001, or Genespark.org to support research of Kleefstra Syndrome in honor of Molly Allen.