Gloria Theresa Winn Covert was born August 5, 1932 in Wilmington, North Carolina to Richard Winn and Anna Williams Winn where she was one of five children - she had three brothers and one sister. The angels ushered Gloria into the arms of God on November 16, 2019.
Raised Roman Catholic, she attended parochial elementary school in North Carolina and she graduated from Williston High School in 1950.
She left North Carolina to attend college in Maryland at Morgan State. While there, she met and later married her college sweetheart, Edgar Brown Covert and they eventually had two daughters, Sheila Michelle Covert and Demetri Anne Covert
All who met Gloria usually used the same words to describe her: nice, sweet, a kind person with a warm smile and a good heart.
She offered of herself and was extremely generous and gave of what she could to those in need. Her home was a welcoming place.
A "surrogate" mother to some, Gloria believed she put her love into whatever meal she prepared and thus was known for being a great cook.
On Sundays you could find her with the TV on as she loved watching Ravens football. She enjoyed seeing new places traveling to such places as England, Belgium, Paris, Bermuda, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico.
She was talented with her clerical skills and was often called upon to assist with family typing projects like term papers, book reports or doctoral dissertations.
Gloria found it therapeutic to be in the garden and found joy growing her bright pink & red azaleas in her front yard, as well as the leafy green hostas plants, and the lush, full white fragrant peonies in the backyard -which she often gave cuttings to others.
She was known to keep a list of people's birthdays and for years would be sure to call them on to phone with well wishes.
She loved education, reading, writing as well as the arts, movies, theater, plays, and music - and she shared those interests with her daughters.
Gloria had a successful career in various roles. Being an effective elevator operator required many skills. Manual elevators were often controlled by a large lever to regulate the elevator's speed, which typically required a good sense of timing to consistently stop the elevator parallel to the floor. In addition to their training in operation and safety, department stores later combined the role of operator with greeter and tour guide, announcing product departments, floor by floor, and occasionally mentioning special offers.
She displayed her clerical skills as a swift keypunch operator at the military facility Fort Holabird in Dundalk, MD. Later, with Baltimore's exclusive real estate and development world where often there seemed to be no room at the table for African Americans, Gloria was employed as a licensed real estate agent with the pioneering Otis Warren & Company. Finally, she had a long career as a state employee in the IT division of the Baltimore City Department of Education District Office on North Avenue when she retired.
In 2010, she moved from her home in Baltimore City to live with her daughter Demetri in Harford County, MD. In 2014, Gloria returned to her home state of North Carolina to live with her daughter Sheila in Charlotte, NC until God called her to her final home. She was welcomed in heaven by her mother, father, and her 3 brothers, Richard Ill, William and Edward.
Services will be held on Saturday, December 14th from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. at The Johnson-Fosbrink Funeral Home P.A., 8521 Loch Raven Blvd. (beltway exit 29B).
In lieu of flowers the family asks for donations in her Gloria's name to be made to Alzheimer's Research & Prevention Foundation PO Box 30783, Tuscon, Arizona 85751-0783.
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