DUDLEY___Gloria P. (Kowalski) Hermanson, 74, passed away on Thursday, February 6, 2020. She leaves daughters, Selina C. Paine and grandchildren, Dakota and Savanah Desantis of Windham, ME; daughters Wazie and Tabitha Hermanson of Webster, MA and son Homer Hermanson USMC, and his wife Kellie of North Carolina; grandson Xavian of Worcester. Gloria is predeceased by her parents, John and Marion Kowalski of Auburn; brothers, John, Walter and Philip Kowalski. She also leaves cousin Elaine Mero of Millbury and her two sons, John and James; niece Patricia Tirone of Ballston Lake, NY and her husband Chuck, son Charlie ; a predeceased niece, Kathryn Papale and her children Gabrielle and Frederick Papale; niece Joan Papale and sons John and Michael, all of Wallingford, CT. In addition, Gloria leaves many friends from Stonecroft Ministry, Woodstock, CT, Sacred Heart of Jesus Intercessory Pray Group, Webster, High Point Church Senior Ladies Group, Thompson, CT, Friends from Valley Church, Uxbridge, MA and Tri State Baptist Church Grosvenordale, CT and the Faith Bible Institute Group she attended there.
Gloria enjoyed many Bible Studies, bowling, bingo and especially playing Scrabble. She enjoyed hiking fishing and kayaking.
Gloria retired from Eversource Gas Co. as a Planner after twenty-four years. She drew maps and records of location of gas services and gas mains in fifty-two towns and cities. It was a job she loved. She also owned rental properties for forty years and enjoyed meeting new people and providing an affordable, well maintained house and apartment to live in.
Gloria sold her mother’s property on Maple Ave., in Auburn, MA to the Auburn Housing Authority to provide a group home for Mentally Challenged Adults, later called Auburn Heights. Gloria was a member of the Alliance for the Mentally Ill, where she learned that 10 % of each town has mentally challenged adults who they cared for after the parents died. Consequently, mentally challenged adults would have to move to the closest large town that had a group home where they lived in unfamiliar and unsafe environments rather than living in their familiar town where they knew people and their way. Gloria’s mentally challenged brother Philip had to move to Worcester after her parent’s death. Because he loved Auburn, Gloria decided to advocate for him to see if Auburn would buy her mother’s property. They did to provide housing for the mentally ill who will need a home in their town when their parents die.
Rather than a donation, it is Gloria’s’ wish to have people advocate for their mentally challenged children that live with them to have housing in the town they know, by calling their Town Housing Authority to provide a group home for the 10% Mentally ill who will need a home in their town when their parents’ die.
A calling hour will be held from 9:30-10:30 am on Wednesday, February 12, 2020 in HENRY-DIRSA FUNERAL HOME,33 Ward St., Worcester, MA. A Funeral Mass will follow at 11:00 am in Our Lady of Czestochowa Church, 34 Ward St., Worcester. Burial will follow in St. John Cemetery, Worcester.
www. Worcesterfuneral.com