Gloria Marie Fletcher joined her loved ones in eternity on Saturday, January 25, 2014, following her husband of sixty-five years. Her ardent desire to see Jesus and Charles is accomplished. This faithful wife, mother and friend is survived by her daughter, Pamela Dowd and son-in-law, Rodney; three granddaughters and their familiesAbigail and Justin Tanner and their three children, Natalie and Wade Grubbs and their four children, and Lindsay and Kevin Jones and their two children. She was preceded in death by her husband, Charles H. Fletcher, and her mother and father, Emil and Jeanne Horn. Born in Brooklyn, New York, she attended Hofstra College during WWII and, as an USO girl, met and married "her Marine," Charles, in December 1944. People knew Gloria as a creative, eccentric, artistic friend who boldly shared the gospel with everyone she met. She had a great sense of humor and quick-wit, highlighted best by her embellished storytelling. She loved to study scripture and did so until the day she died. In her last four years she painted dramatic scenes from the book of Revelation onto five gigantic canvases to illustrate the second return of Christ. Her family fondly remembers Grandma as a loving and caring homemaker who served them well, always giving her time, unique gifts and listening ear to instil sage, spiritual wisdom. As an excellent cook, she delighted in making friends and family their favorite meals. Gloria was an avid fan of Louie Lamoure western novels and the classics, and a faithful member of her "beloved" Mobberly Baptist Church in Longview, Texas for twenty years. Gloria and Charles lived thirty-five years in south Florida where she taught "young people" in Sunday school and mission groups in her thirties. She hired a football coach as a personal trainer in her fortiesa foreign concept to life in the 1960s, which prepared her to open a Nautilus training center in her fifties, as the first woman to ever do so in America, all while learning to climb mountains in Switzerlanda metaphor for the rest of her life. Moving to Marshall in 1986, she and Charles established their own home gym by setting up Nautilus weight training machines in their garage where she exercised faithfully until her nineties. The athletic departments of Marshall High School and ETBU used the "gym" as well. She kept the vitamin stores in business, and took no medicine until she had to at eighty-nine, preferring Blue Bell Natural Vanilla Bean ice cream as a cure-all. Gloria's Life Celebration will take place on Friday, January 31, 2014 at Downs Funeral Home in Marshall, Texas with Visitation at 10:00 am and the Funeral following at 11:00. The graveside service will be conducted at 1:30 that afternoon at Yates Memorial Cemetery in Marshall. If so led, memorials can be made to Evangelism Explosion International, PO Box 23820, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33307.