Gloria has been a member of MDR Group for about a year or so and recently underwent surgery to repair a hip fracture. I visited her to encourage her (and, by extension, myself).
We had a wonderful chat in her living room during which we shared our life histories and how we came to be where we are today. I learned a lot about Gloria and feel closer to her as a result.
She grew up in a conservative Italian family in Brooklyn NY, the first of several siblings. As the oldest she was responsible to care for her younger ones. After graduating high school Gloria joined the Arthur Murray dance studio as an instructor and continued "caring for people" through dance. In 1951 she moved to Los Angeles CA to open an Arthur Murray dance studio here and met her first husband to whom she remained married for four years. During those four years she took some courses that certified her to teach nursery school.
Gloria loves learning and caring for people and has taken courses all of her life. Emblematic of her love for learning; when she was a young girl she envied her friends who went to religious school after school.
While teaching nursery school she met her second husband, a medical doctor, to whom she remained married for 40 years. He already had a "brood of four children" and they adopted a fifth together. Soon after their wedding Gloria went to UCLA and obtained her degrees in psychology - after which she opened her clinical practice - continuing her legacy of caring for and helping others.
Gloria is a passionate, lively and genuine 82 year young woman and a "true bodhissatva of the earth". She's intelligent, thoughtful and considerate. Gloria has a lot to offer many many people and has much life to live ahead of her.
We concluded our brief time together with the evening recitation of the sutra, chanting of daimoku and reading of the gosho passage from the The Three Tripitaka Masters' Prayer for Rain. Her voice is sonorous and deep, reflecting a strong connection to Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.
Gloria was full of color and life and looked positively splendid. I would never have known she had just had surgery...
We had a wonderful chat in her living room during which we shared our life histories and how we came to be where we are today. I learned a lot about Gloria and feel closer to her as a result.
She grew up in a conservative Italian family in Brooklyn NY, the first of several siblings. As the oldest she was responsible to care for her younger ones. After graduating high school Gloria joined the Arthur Murray dance studio as an instructor and continued "caring for people" through dance. In 1951 she moved to Los Angeles CA to open an Arthur Murray dance studio here and met her first husband to whom she remained married for four years. During those four years she took some courses that certified her to teach nursery school.
Gloria loves learning and caring for people and has taken courses all of her life. Emblematic of her love for learning; when she was a young girl she envied her friends who went to religious school after school.
While teaching nursery school she met her second husband, a medical doctor, to whom she remained married for 40 years. He already had a "brood of four children" and they adopted a fifth together. Soon after their wedding Gloria went to UCLA and obtained her degrees in psychology - after which she opened her clinical practice - continuing her legacy of caring for and helping others.
Gloria is a passionate, lively and genuine 82 year young woman and a "true bodhissatva of the earth". She's intelligent, thoughtful and considerate. Gloria has a lot to offer many many people and has much life to live ahead of her.
We concluded our brief time together with the evening recitation of the sutra, chanting of daimoku and reading of the gosho passage from the The Three Tripitaka Masters' Prayer for Rain. Her voice is sonorous and deep, reflecting a strong connection to Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.
Gloria was full of color and life and looked positively splendid. I would never have known she had just had surgery...
