She was born on July 15, 1927 to James and Columbia (Rossi) Sileo, and grew up in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, New York. Her father was a noted photographer and her mother a photo-journalist who covered Latin America. She was the eldest of three sisters.
After receiving her B.A degree Summa Cum Laude from Saint Joseph’s College for Women in Brooklyn in 1949, Gloria did graduate studies in English literature at Columbia University. She began her career as a writer with Today’s Woman magazine, a Fawcett publication, rising from administrative assistant to assistant fashion editor, and finally, copy editor.
In July of 1952, she married William Smith. They lived and raised their family first in Forest Hills, Queens, and then in Pound Ridge in northern Westchester County, New York. Bill passed away in 2008.
Following her time at Today’s Woman and a time as Assistant Advertising Director of Sapphire Hosiery in New York City, Gloria built a career as a free-lance writer for various New York businesses: Saks Fifth Avenue, Burlington Hosiery and Helena Rubinstein, most notably. She also began writing feature stories for the suburban weeklies of The New York Times. She also worked for small advertising agencies in Westchester County, and was copy chief and parttime news reporter for VIP Broadcasting in Mount Kisco, New York. She worked with Stanley A. Lomas Associates as a creative marketing research assistant, and served as Director of Client Relations for Schwartz & Hofflich, a financial firm in Norwalk, Connecticut.
In Pound Ridge she served on the board of the Hiram Halle Memorial Library for 25 years, and as its president for eight years. She and her husband Bill were proud hobby printers and members of the Westchester Chappel.
Gloria won numerous awards for her creative work from the Advertising Club of Westchester County, and several Matrix Awards from Women in Communications, Inc. (WICI) of Fairfield County, Connecticut. She also served on the WICI board. One of her radio commercials while at WVIP earned a New York State Broadcasters Association Award.
In 1995, Gloria and Bill moved to Brunswick, Maine where Gloria began writing for The Times Record, first as a feature story writer, and then for twelve and a half years as the author of the weekly column, “It’s Our Time.” She volunteered at the People Plus Center and served on the board for three years. She also served on the steering committee of the Association of Bowdoin Friends.
Gloria did not believe in retiring; rather, she called it “rewiring.” She accomplished the two goals she set for herself when she moved to Maine. She continued her writing career as a columnist, and she learned to read, write and speak in Italian while auditing classes at Bowdoin College. Her proudest accomplishment was forming “Il Gruppo”, and Italian conversation group that has been meeting weekly since 1998.
She is survived by her two daughters, Megan Smith Pinette of Belfast, Maine and Maud Smith Hamovit of Newbury, Massachusetts, along with their families, Dennis Pinette and son, Evan, and Lloyd Hamovit and children, Rory and Nora, as well as her sister, Joan Ziccardy of Levittown, New York.
The family plans a celebration of Gloria’s life in the spring of 2018. A memorial contribution in her name can be made to UNICEF.
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