Obituary of Gloria P. Gnecco

SEMINOLE, FL - Gloria Williams Gnecco, formerly of Fryeburg, Maine and Toccoa, Georgia, passed away peacefully after a short illness on February 11, 2012 at the home of her daughter, Patricia Weeks. She was born in Bayonne, New Jersey on July 11th, 1928 to Teresa Szelagowska and Raymond Williams and later moved to Jersey City, where she was raised by her mother and her stepfather, William Kramer. She attended elementary and high school in Jersey City, where she met Robert Gnecco, her high school sweetheart and future husband. The young couple were married on January 29, 1948 in Roswell, New Mexico. The first eighteen years of their married life was devoted to starting their family on air force bases in Roswell, NM, Limestone, ME, and Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. Gloria was active in the PTA and in her church sodality on each of the bases where they were stationed. She coordinated the religious education program at Ramey AFB in Puerto Rico. Additionally, she served as the Family Services Coordinator at Loring AFB in northern Maine, where she also served as a Cub Scout den mother, and volunteered as a Red Cross Gray Lady. Gloria and Bob retired to their country home in Center Fryeburg, Maine in 1965 to finish raising their family of five children. Gloria was active in the East Conway (NH) Extension group, the Fryeburg Business and Professional Women's Club, and the Fryeburg Women's Library Club. She was a charter member of the Fryeburg Historical Society and served as a brownie and girl scout leader. As a unit manager for Patriot Parties of Portsmouth, NH, she worked for many years as a representative for Tupperware Home Products. Serving as assistant secretary of the Fryeburg Fair Association was always an autumn highlight. Gloria had many friends and opened her home to everyone. She was an excellent cook and, in the early years, enjoyed entertaining. The farmhouse was almost always filled on summer evenings with conversation and hearty laughter of visiting relatives—aunts and uncles and cousins from "away." Whenever there was a wedding, shower, or other important event, she was always happy to decorate and ready to help to cater the event. She enjoyed crafts of any kind, and was proficient in crocheting. She enjoyed crossword puzzles and word games, always wanting to keep her mind active. As years crept up on them and winters became more tedious, the Gneccos relocated to Pinellas Park, Florida to be near family and then finally to Toccoa, Georgia in 1985, where Gloria found comfort in her faith and friendship in her activities with the ladies guild where she was also active in the planning and construction of the new St. Mary's Catholic Church. She was a member of the Red Hat Society and mentored students in local schools. In later years, after she gave up her home in Tocca, Gloria resided for three years with the wives of Air Force enlisted soldiers at Bob Hope Village in Shalimar, Florida. Predeceased by her husband, CMSGT Robert Gnecco (USAF Retired), in 1993, and by a son, Clyde James Gnecco, in 1971, she is survived by three daughters: Patricia Weeks and her husband Bruce of Seminole, FL; Teresa Lucas and her husband Douglas, of Goodyear, AZ; Nancy Carol Stevens and her partner Jim Byrnes of Wittmann, AZ; and a son, Don Gnecco and his wife Nancy of Kennebunk, ME. Grandma Gigi, as she always wished to be called (her initials!), will also be missed by her seven grandchildren: Jeffrey Gnecco and his wife Kate Gaudet of Rockland, ME; Gregory Gnecco and his wife Tonia Farman of White Salmon, WA; Katherine Gnecco Endy and her husband Alex of Portland, ME; Michael Weeks and his wife Diana of Yakota AFB, Japan; Jennifer Weeks McCreery and her husband Mac of Alexandria, VA; Douglas Michael Lucas and his partner Michael Walters of Ft. Lauderdale, FL; and Deanna Lucas Varner and her husband Cliff Varner of Toccoa, GA; and six great-grandchildren: Eliza, Emilia, and Levi Endy of Portland, ME; Chase and Madeleine Varner of Toccoa, GA, and Emerson Weeks of Yakota AFB, Japan. A celebration of Gloria's life will be held in the spring or early summer in Kennebunk, ME, with burial alongside her husband Bob in the Maine Veteran's Memorial Cemetery, Augusta, Maine. A mass in her honor will be celebrated at Blessed Sacrament Church,