Celebrant Pam Vetter


	Celebrating Life Everyone Has A Story...

Gloria was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to her parents Agnes and Carl on May 22nd, 1924. Born to immigrants, Gloria was a first generation American. Her father was from Germany and her mother was from Denmark. They worked in the restaurant business. Her father, a baker and chef, met her mother, a pantry maiden, in Nebraska. They were a close family with many immigrant friends. The couple settled in Chicago where they raised Gloria and her younger sister, Verna.

Her father was hard-working and light-hearted, and even in the tough times of the Depression, the family and their friends gathered around the table, enjoyed meals together and shared stories of their families and homelands. These strong family ties were passed down to their daughters. Verna was not only Gloria's sister, she was her best friend.

Gloria graduated from high school in Chicago and went to work for the phone company. She became a supervisor and met sisters, Penny and Julie Peranich. Penny and Julie introduced Gloria and her sister, Verna, to their brothers, Mark and Tony. The couples fell in love. Gloria and Mark married first and a year later, Verna married Tony. Marrying the Peranich brothers made it easy to keep the love of family strong as Gloria and Verna were close for all of their adult lives.

Gloria and Mark's family was stitched together with love as they had four wonderful children: Mark Jr., Bruce, Kevin, and Keri. Gloria was a great homemaker and an incredible mother. She was always supportive, non-judgmental, loving, and giving of her time and her talents as a seamstress, crafter and homemaker. She was also kind, gentle and compassionate. She was artistic, even tempered, and light-hearted just like her father. Not a great disciplinarian, she still managed to keep all four in line by always leading by example. She was a favorite mom by all the friends of all four of her children.

Every holiday, every summer vacation, every birthday and every anniversary brought family together. Christmas was fully celebrated because it was a big gathering. It was normal for Gloria and Mark to have 30 to 40 people for Christmas dinner. Anyone without family in town or without a place to celebrate had a place at their table as they had many close friends. The cousins also gathered to antics and plenty of scoldings. Gloria and Mark would take out her family's recipes and start baking cookies nightly a week before Christmas and every room was decorated for the holiday. Nothing made them happier than the Christmas holiday gathering.

With many hobbies, Gloria shared her talents for sewing, quilting and painting. All of Keri's friends who had children sported a quilt made by Gloria. She also was an award winning dollmaker casting the porcelain, painting and sewing their clothing. She loved to create. She also enjoyed to play cards and do word puzzles. And she was an avid reader of romance and mystery novels.

Gloria and Vern loved to get into the pool with a cool drink and float around with the kids for a leisure afternoon. Sometimes the husbands would join in. When it came to food, Gloria loved eating chips, salsa and guacamole. And she loved a good strawberry margarita and an occasional Brandy hi-ball. Pink Zinfandel wine was also a favorite.

After retiring, Mark and Gloria and Tony and Vern traveled regularly to Europe, Hawaii, Mexico, and St. John. They saw the fall foliage of the East Coast. They cruised to Mexico, Alaska, and the Panama Canal. They traveled multiple times to Tennessee to visit Mark and Tony's cousin and wife, Mark and Ruth. They loved to spend time seeing new places and spending time together. Family was important. Before Mark's passing, Bruce moved in with his parents. Bruce was loving and caring to both of them and enabled them to live as they wished, living out their lives in their own home. Losing her husband Mark in April of 2009 was very difficult for Gloria and the entire family. The couple was just shy of their 60th wedding anniversary.

Gloria always wanted the best for her children. She was thrilled that Mark reunited with his high school sweetheart, Bonnie. Though they went their separate ways, Bonnie remained close to the family and when they coupled again a few years ago, Gloria couldn't have been happier.

Gloria and Mark often worried that Keri was alone and working crazy hours in a crazy industry, too. Her first marriage ended in 2000 and there was little time for Keri to meet someone. But her luck changed when she met Bo in 2012. Keri and Bo married within a year and he has been a truly amazing husband and son-in-law, caring for Gloria as though she was his own mother. Mark is definitely smiling down as well – he was crazy about Bonnie and though he hadn't met Bo, he is Croation, just like Mark, which he would have loved.

Gloria had wonderful caregivers: Liliah, Maryanne, Amber and Joselyn. Amber and Joselyn were with her until the end of her life and the entire family is incredibly grateful to them for the love and care they gave to Gloria. In her closing days, Gloria was at home on hospice. She smiled, said she was okay and she told her kids she loved them. On Friday night, Gloria kissed Bruce, Keri and Bo good night. She confirmed she was comfortable and went to sleep. She slept hard through the night, all the way until Saturday afternoon, when she quietly took her last breath. In the end, Gloria went peacefully and the family knows that she is reunited with her husband, Mark. The family feels she'll continue watching out for everyone – now just from above.

Gloria will best be remembered sweet and loving, like she was every day of her life. Her children will miss everything about their mom. Gloria and Mark hoped unconditional love would be the main thing that they passed to their children – to put differences aside and to love one another. At the end, they believed it was the most important thing you could have – family and their love.

Gloria will be laid to rest with photos of the people she loved and who loved her. Donations are welcome in Gloria's name to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in San Pedro.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Carl and Agnes; her husband Mark; her sister Verna and her brother-in-law Tony. She is loved and remembered by her son Mark Jr. and his partner Bonnie; her son Bruce; her son Kevin and daughter-in-law Nancy; her daughter Keri and son-in-law Bo; her nephews Scott, Brad, Brian and Gene; her nieces Toni Lynn and Peggy; her cousin Donna; extended family and close friends.

See Marko's marker here: http://www.celebrantpam.com/markoperanich.html.