Gloria Ruth Stephenson
SOUTH PORTLAND – Gloria Stephenson, beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, passed away peacefully on Oct. 2, 2020, at South Portland Nursing Home.
Gloria “Glo” was born May 7, 1923 in Chicago to Margaret Buck Morgan and John F. Morgan and grew up in Western Springs, Ill. with her brothers John F. Jr. and Charles.
Glo went to nursing school in Chicago, beginning a 50-year long career as an R.N. (an accomplishment of which she was proud). Glo was fiercely independent and an intrepid traveler, driving and camping across the country several times in her VW. She was a lifelong Democrat and voted in every presidential election since FDR.
She met and married Dr. Richard B. Stephenson in Chicago in 1946 and they had three sons, Peter, Richard, and John Scott. The family settled in Cape Elizabeth in 1954, where Glo taught her boys to ski and throw a curveball. They spent summers at Long Lake and were founding members of St. Albans Episcopal Church. When her sons were older, Gloria returned to nursing at Mercy Hospital and moved to a farmhouse in Cumberland Center owned by her friend, Frances Drinker, where they raised chickens, goats, and horses. Glo then moved to California to care for her parents in Seal Beach. After her fathers death, she moved to a ranch in Sebastopol, where she delivered sheep, goats, and once a parakeet. The birth of grandchildren brought her back to her beloved Maine. They remember Grammy Glo dressing as a marvelous witch for Halloween and sharing fabled stories.
She lived at the Lake Auburn Towne House before moving to the Betsy Ross House in South Portland, where she lived independently until she was 96.
Gloria was predeceased by her parents; and brothers. She will be greatly missed by her three sons, Peter (Maureen), Richard (Paige), and John Scott (Deborah); six grandchildren, Hilary Ruth (Riley Heath), Shepard Wiley (Hallie), Jessica (Noah Prince), Eleanor Skye, Anna Lea Kazimer, and Michael Hunter; five great-grandchildren, Logan, Eli, Benjamin, Sawyer Gray, and Barrett; and numerous nieces and nephews.
The family thanks Catherine Fairbanks-Cliff and Cynthia Harris for helping Gloria stay in her apartment, and the staff at South Portland Nursing Home for her care in her final days. A celebration of life will be announced at a later date.
Please visit http://www.jonesrichandbarnes.com to sign Glorias online guest book.
In lieu of flowers,
Gloria requested that donations be made to the
American Cancer Society
Gloria Ruth Stephenson
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