Hunsinger, Gloria L. (nee Schaeffer), passed away peacefully on April 2, 2021, at the age of 97, joining her husband, the late Edward G. Hunsinger. Preceded in death by parents Walter and Mercia Schaeffer, brothers Donald (Evelyn) and Richard Schaeffer. Devoted mother of Thomas E. Hunsinger and Marcia L. Werremeyer (the late William); grandmother of Margaret S. Werremeyer and Elizabeth H. Dougherty (Christopher); great-grandmother of Charles and Jack Dougherty; aunt; great-aunt; and dear friend to many. She loved to read, dance, garden and create works of art. The family would like to thank the staff at Sunrise Webster Groves and BJC Hospice for their wonderful care and compassion. Those who so desire may make memorial contributions to the Delta Gamma Center (dgckids.org) or Webster Groves Presbyterian Church (wgpc.org/give/). Private family remembrance to be held. For those of you who didn’t know my Mom when she was younger - or perhaps didn’t know her at all - let me tell you about this remarkable woman. That she loved her family was a given. She was a great wife, a caring mother who provided wonderful opportunities for her children, and a devoted grandmother and great-grandmother who shared her many talents and the child within her. She was, in addition to these things, a dancer and lover of music, a reader, a gardener, and a traveler. She specifically requested that these interests be a part of her obituary. I remember my grandparents telling me that when she was a little girl, Mom would call herself “Do-ise” because she couldn’t pronounce her middle name, Louise. Apparently, she was a performer at an early age, when she would announce to those present: “The Great Do-ise will now…. stunt!” As she grew older, she, her brothers and kids in the neighborhood would put on shows in the backyard, a la Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, using a blanket thrown over a clothesline as their curtain/backdrop. She took dancing lessons most of her young life: tap, ballet and toe. She and my Dad loved to get out on dancefloor to cut a rug - especially to the sounds of the Big Bands. They participated in the West Richmond Elementary School PTA shows, and I well remember my Mom’s performance to Glow Little Glow Worm (Glo was a nickname after she outgrew the Great Do-ise) dressed in a black insect costume with glow-in-the-dark painted dots. It was quite a sight! We had a radio in the kitchen when we lived on Pine, and it was always on when she was cooking, “sprinkling clothes” or ironing. We had a huge stereo that was actually a piece of furniture, and Tom and I grew up listening to the Great American Songbook, show tunes, a little jazz and the beginnings of rock and roll. My Mom loved to read, and we always had books in the house. One year she purchased a set of Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia at Kroger - one week at a time. They were still on the bookshelf in the den until the day she moved. She was an active library patron, and we kids were encouraged to check out books and follow her example. Many a summer we enrolled in the summer reading program. She didn’t learn how to drive until I was in kindergarten so I imagine she took us to the Richmond Heights Library in our wagon. When my Mom turned 80, our family funded a fountain at the Brentwood Library in her honor. She was so proud of that fountain, and told everyone and showed them pictures of our little dedication ceremony. Mom loved to garden. We had a compost heap long before it was fashionable, and I always said that she had the best dirt in Brentwood. When my parents remodeled the kitchen, she reluctantly had a garbage disposal installed although I don’t think she used it much. She grew most of her annuals from seeds - in little peat-pots that she nurtured on the kitchen floor in front of the refrigerator to keep them warm as they germinated. As a very active member of the White-Pine Garden Club, Mom shared her love and talents with other women in the neighborhood. This group supported the Brentwood Library as well, and they donated books and planted trees in members’ honor or in their memory. Eventually, the group aged out of active gardening, but those who remained got together for lunch. She continued to write notes to friends and family on notecards she made from pressed flowers from her garden. My Mom and Dad loved to travel, and I remember our first family vacation - to Cobblestone Lodge in Steelville. From that maiden voyage we branched out to cover the entire continental U.S. except for the Pacific Northwest. We went by car - and that was before air conditioning. My Dad would drive all day in the heat. Near the end of the day’s journey as we looked for a motel for the night, Tom and I always had our hearts set on one with a swimming pool. Although we were ‘rewarded for good behavior’ with some kind of toy, cooling off in the water was what we wanted most. We used Triptiks from Triple A, and it was fun to follow along as we wound our way through small towns since superhighways had not yet been built. We loved our trips to Clearwater where we could relax and enjoy the beach, but many of our vacations were educational. Mom would go to the library and do research so that we could pack our trip with cultural things. Several trips to New Orleans, I think, were her favorites. She loved the French Quarter and the many antebellum homes. My Dad brought along his golf clubs - just in case - and reached the end of his rope once after yet another of these visits and said, “If I have to go into one more G-D house…” Both my parents continued to travel and venture beyond the U.S. borders after Tom and I were out of the house. I guess it was easier to travel without the kids. They went all over the world - South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The year my Dad had a stroke, he couldn’t accompany her to the long-awaited African safari with the St. Louis Zoo, so Mom had a garden club friend take his place. My Mom was always very creative and thoughtful. She learned how to knit as a teenager and not only made us sweaters, but she knitted outfits (sweater, cap and booties) for her church to distribute to needy families. At last count, the number topped 800. She made some of my clothes and used the scraps to fashion similar outfits for my doll, Wendy. Those of us fortunate to be recipients of her cross-stitch or patchwork quilts and pillows were always happy to receive them. All the quilting was done by hand. She made a crazy quilt from my Dad’s ties - and embroidered the names of countries they visited on their many trips - along with a symbol representing something from its culture. When Molly and Betsy came along, they, too, received some very creative gifts. Mom traced their hands each year until they were ten, and these were used to make quilted wall hangings. When they were young, Mom took their measurements and made soft dolls the same size so the dolls could wear their clothes. She fashioned a card table cover that converted it into a house; complete with a chimney made from a coffee can, our address by the front door and flower boxes in the windows. Mom had stage 1 lung cancer in her eighties and came through the surgery and recovery like a champ: a week at my house and she returned to her own clean house with a freezer full of prepared food. Fresh fruit and vegetables were all she needed. One day during her hospitalization when her doctor was making his rounds, she happened to be in the bathroom when he arrived. When he asked, “Are you decent?”, Mom replied, “Well, if you mean am I dressed, the answer is no; but, yes, I always try to be nice to people.” After my Dad died in 2000, Mom continued to live in her house until she just couldn’t assume the responsibility any more. She became a little confused so I took her to her doctor for a check-up and evaluation. He determined that she had the beginning of dementia - which she always referred to as ‘losing one’s mind’. This occurred at the same time she was gathering documents for her taxes. She asked the doctor, “If I’m losing my mind, do I still have to pay taxes?” Not TOO confused! Reluctantly, she moved to Provision Living, later Sunrise, and accepted the fact that she would be better cared for by others - and she deserved to be. When she moved into her apartment, she quickly made a lot of new friends - among both the residents and staff. After hip surgery in 2016, Mom spend a month in Manor Grove for rehab, and made friends there as well. In December, 2020, Mom was hospitalized because of a fall to determine whether or not she had broken her leg. She hadn’t, but after assessing her overall health, the hospital staff told me this would probably be the beginning of many return trips and advised me to have her care turned over to hospice. This occurred during the Covid pandemic, and I hadn’t been able to be with her since spring. I was so grateful to be able to visit her during her hospital stay. She returned to Sunrise, but no in-suite visits were allowed, and it was difficult for her to participate in FaceTime or window visits. Her health continued to decline. A few weeks before her death, the visitation restrictions were lifted, and I was allowed to visit once again. I will treasure those times. Although her memory was a little fuzzy, we had wonderful exchanges. My last visit - unbeknownst to me at the time - was the morning of her passing. The last thing she said to me was, “You’re my favorite person.” Mom would always introduce me as her ‘angel’. I look back on our relationship and see that somewhere along the line the parent-child roles reversed as I gradually took on some of the nurturing and supportive responsibilities. She was indeed a dancer and lover of music, a reader, a gardener, and a traveler. The Great Do-ise is still performing but in a new role: Look who the angel is now.