CLEVELAND, Ohio – It started like any other day.

For Gloria Williams, that meant singing while she worked at the Fairlawn Walmart. It meant talking to friends, praying with some.

She could tell you about the co-worker whose daughter has leukemia and whose son just suffered a stroke.

She could tell you about the friend facing eye surgery. The friend with back problems, another with leg problems. There is the friend who was almost in tears because of a rude customer, and the friend who just came back after nearly dying from pneumonia.

Oh, and there is the friend whose daughter is in the middle of a divorce and has moved back in with Mom – bringing along her teenage daughter. There is another friend raising her grandkids. Another had an adult child on drugs.

People trusted Gloria. They told her their problems and fears.They asked her to pray for them. She often anointed them quickly with a little of bottle of oil she always had with her.

Gloria called it “The Walmart Church.”

SINGING WHILE SHE WORKED

She recently had her 20th anniversary at Walmart. It meant a lot to her and her mother, Melva Hardison. Before going to work for Walmart, her employment history was … to be kind … spotty.

She had several jobs at Walmart. Her last was her favorite. Her manager was Tammy Spradlin, who put Gloria in charge of keeping the shoe and infant department in some type of order. Not easy in a place where people dumped their old, smelly shoes and walked out wearing new ones.

Or people who stuck old french fries in shoes.

While Gloria cleaned up, she sang gospel songs. Sometimes, customers stopped and sang with her. Little kids danced. Some older people heard one of her traditional Negro Spiritual and would cry, as they were touched by something deep in their soul.

Sometimes, people showed up at Walmart, looking for the lady who sings.

WHO ARE YOU SINGING FOR?

Once upon a time, Gloria had dreams of being a gospel star. She sang on several local television stations. She sang at some mega churches. Gloria later realized she had turned into a diva. Her attitude cost her the TV spots and big time church solos.

I met Gloria 25 years ago. I was doing ministry for the men at Portage County Jail. Gloria was ministering to the women at the same facility. She also was struggling in various parts of her life. No drugs or alcohol, but relationships and some medical issues.

It took a while, but Gloria joined my wife Roberta and me in jail ministry – especially when we switched to Summit County. We formed a team along with Frank Williams and Stephen Haley that lasted for 20 years.

She also sang with us when we did services at the Haven of Rest, Akron’s city mission. The TV gigs and mega church stuff disappeared. But Gloria kept singing. Prisoners. The homeless. Nursing homes. Special needs people especially were attracted to her.

She was a superstar in jail and the Haven of Rest. Some guys had heard her sing for years and would ask her to do their favorite songs. She loved to bang on her tambourine in church and while singing.

I’ve watched Gloria sing in front of 1,000 people in a big church, in front of five guys in jail or a single person at Walmart and a nursing home. The effort and enthusiasm was the same.

Gloria could rock with the best of Black Gospel artists. She also began singing the old Negro spirituals acapella. You’d wander through Walmart and hear “Wade in the water … Wade in the Water, Children … ” as she straightened up the diapers and baby bottles.

A PSALM 68 FAMILY

Roberta and I merged into Gloria’s family. Her mom, Melva Hardison, also became our mom. People would see us together and try to figure out all black/white combinations.

The answer is found in Psalm 68:6: “God sets the lonely in families. He leads out the prisoners with singing.”

Her pastor Bishop Joey Johnson (Akron’s House of the Lord) connected her with Etolia and Chuck Gills, who found her a home to rent. She attended that church for 41 years. The Gills (her landlords) treated her like family for the last 23 years.

She had been a sister to Roberta and me for at least this century.

God not only sets the lonely in families, but comes up with interesting combinations.

THE LAST SONG

Gloria’s 67th birthday was October 2. She and Roberta stopped at her mother’s nursing home for a visit. Then we got together at Outback Steakhouse, her favorite place to eat for the celebration.

Like many creative people, Gloria never worried about keeping an immaculate home. But when the calendar turned to October, she asked Roberta to help her do a big house cleaning. “For my birthday,” she said.

They spent parts of three days on the job.

On October 5, I took Gloria to work at Walmart and picked her up. She was in a great mood. We ate at Rockne’s, one of her favorite Akron restaurants.

“You know what I was singing today at Walmart?” she asked. “Zion Is Calling Me … I can’t remember the last time I sang that. It just came to me.”

That song begins: “Zion is calling me to a higher place of praise

To stand upon the mountain and to magnify his name.”

We often put a song on the I-phone and sing to and from work. That was what we sang on October 5, her last day at Walmart. She was in a joyous mood.

HER QUIET STRUGGLE

Gloria battled epilepsy for decades. One of Gloria’s fears was she’d have a seizure or something else that would lead to her being disabled.

That also was a concern of ours.

We knew she could have a major seizure and that’s how she’d go home to heaven. That’s exactly what happened after I dropped her off at home that night.

The next morning when I arrived to take her to work, I found her on the floor. She had been gone for a while. It was a seizure. She’d had many over the years. I had seen it happen at least five times, Roberta more than that.

Gloria never was married, never had any children. Her friends at Walmart and in ministry were her family, along with a few close relatives.

“She knew it was time to go,” said her 97-year-old mother Melva Hardison. “I could tell. She was ready.”

2 Corinthians 5:8: “I’d rather be absent from the body and be present with the Lord.”

When I close my eyes and see Gloria, I don’t see the shell of her on the floor. I hear us singing, “Zion is calling me to a high place of praise …” in the car on the way home from her last day at work.

Now, the sister who sang like an angel is singing with the angels.

INFORMATION ON GLORIA WILLIAMS ARRANGEMENTS

Tuesday, October 17, 2023: Sommerville Funeral Home in Akron. Public Visitation: (5:30 – 7:00 pm).

Wednesday, October 18, 2023: Akron’s House of the Lord. Celebration of Life Service: (11:00 am). Multi-Purpose Center

Note: All attendees are asked to wear bright colors to the Family Visitation & Celebration of Life Service. Gloria loved bright colors.

NO FLOWERS: Please give donations to the House of Lord in Akron or Haven of Rest in Akron.

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