Gloria Jeanne Williamson

Gloria Jeanne Williamson, née Warren, age 80, died July 26, 2022 at home in Lake Elsinore, California. Sadly, she lost her valiant and dignified fight with cancer.

Gloria was born December 31,1941, in Los Angeles, California, to Cara Mae Marable, a hairdresser and Lloyd Warren, a Navy serviceman. Growing up in El Paso, Gloria became the oldest of three younger siblings, James "Jimmy" Smith (deceased), Sharon (Smith) Beran and Michael "Mickey" Smith, in a household with her stepfather Millard James "Pop" Smith, a grocer. As an adult, she recalled feeling isolated and lonely in this blended family. As a result, Gloria made it one of her missions in life to celebrate, preserve and strengthen family ties. Children, stepchildren, adopted children, half-siblings, in-laws, ex-husbands, outlaws, distant kin, whatever their status, the people who came into Gloria's orbit became hers. Thanks to her tireless study of genealogy, we also know where we came from, as far back as the Middle Ages.

Blond and hazel-eyed with a knockout smile, Gloria worked as a model before graduating from El Paso Technical High School in 1959 at the age of 17. She wed Robert George Wheeler and the two soon became parents to Tabbitha in their home near Ft. Bliss Air Force Base. The couple relocated to southeastern Michigan near her in-laws, where followed Kimberly, Robert and Michelle. In 1968, Gloria became a single mother of four children ages 10 and younger. Wages and tips from her nighttime bartender job supported the family she tended to during the day. Around 1970 at the Sing-A-Long tavern, she met James Jere Williamson, a single father to Holly, Jere and Ginger, all young daughters. Six girls, one boy; the household lived together sometimes on weekends and always during summer. Experience as a single mother, scraping by on a lean budget and discriminatory laws of the day that barred women from obtaining credit and workplace opportunities and more hardened Gloria's commitment to progressive politics, equal rights and feminism.

Once marginalized, she stood for vulnerable people. Once poor, she gave generously. Denied by circumstance the opportunity to go to college, Gloria graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oakland University in psychology, summa cum laude, in 1991. Once ill with what she called "her family disease of alcoholism," Gloria championed sobriety at midlife upon completion of treatment in Palm Springs at the Betty Ford Center. Her death capped nearly four decades of continuous sobriety, one of the life achievements she was most proud of.

As a grandmother, "GG" lavished her resources and most of all, her time, upon her many grandchildren and great grandchildren. She treasured travel and new experiences and for a time in the 1980s treated a first generation of grandchildren to sleep-away excursions called "Camp Willy." Not a fan of organized religion, Gloria nonetheless lived by principles of honesty and fairness. She loved her salt shaker, roller coasters, dry humor (Albert Brooks), Mexican food, cross country road trips, shopping and progressive cable TV. The latter was her constant companion upon the death of Jim Williamson in 2005, preferable she said, to becoming "a nurse" or "a purse" to another partner.

Late in life, Gloria divided her time between homes in Fenton, Michigan and Lake Elsinore, California. Seasonal cross country travel between these residences afforded her opportunities to shanghai loved ones, most often her younger brother Mick, into her Honda Odyssey minivan to ride shotgun and visit family and friends along the way. She met cancer at age 60 with pragmatism. Upon cancer's return a third time amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Gloria met those extended circumstances with courage, stubborn calm and consistent optimism.

She is survived by two siblings, Sharon and Mickey, all seven children, Tabbitha Lynn (Wheeler) Hauser (Steven), Kimberly Jeanne Wheeler (Dan Grafmiller), Holly Corrine Williamson (Robert Ohlweiler), Jere Ann Williamson Downs, Robert Warren Wheeler (Terri), Virginia "Ginger" Marie Williamson, Michelle Ann (Wheeler) Sennabaum (Joe), 15 grandchildren, Jason, Ashley, Maryanne, Gracie, Sydney, Robert, Max, Kate, George, Chad, Cortni, Kyle, Jeff, Kristen, and Sophia, and four great grandchildren, Ava, Teddy, Dean, and Sawyer.

Memorial services will be held at the historic Forest Lawn Memorial Park, 1500 E. San Antonio Dr., Long Beach, CA 90807 and will begin with visitation and viewing at 9:00 AM on August 24, 2022. The chapel services will be held at 2:00 PM with a private family internment to follow.

Contributions in honor of Gloria's memory may be made to Planned Parenthood.

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