Obituary of Gloria E. Cox

Obituary: Gloria Elaine Cox

Gloria Elaine Cox embodied a spirit of love and kindness from her birth on July 23,1921 until she was called home to be with her Lord after over 102 years on May 2, 2024. A first generation American, born to immigrant parents Beresford Holder (d.1967) and Alma (aka Elma) Donnelly (d.1926) Gloria spent her early years in Harlem.  Gloria experienced heartbreak early in life when her mother died when Gloria was only five years old. Her older brother Beresford Donnelly (d.1926) died of heartbreak soon thereafter, doubling her grief. After her mother’s death, Gloria and her brother LeRoy (Marian/Billie) spent some years in the home of her grandmother Rosalind Clairmont Cave Holder Walcott (d.1933)(Hubert). When Gloria’s father remarried to Mildred Tait (d.1979) they established a new family and lived in Brooklyn. Gloria and LeRoy (d.2006) grew up with their cousins Kenneth and Milton Little, and Edgar Cheltenham (Doris) in Brooklyn. Her Uncle Edwin Duncan Holder taught her to play the piano. Gloria came of age in the roaring Harlem Renaissance era and fully enjoyed the artistic glamor or the times. Her Uncle, Dr. Arthur Donnelly (Odessa) and Aunt Winifred Donnelly introduced Gloria to Harlem society including artists like Josephine Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, Mahalia Jackson, Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, and Ethel Waters. Gloria was photographed in the 1940s by the famous Harlem Renaissance Portrait Artist James Van Der Zee.

While in her twenties, Gloria moved to Long Island where she began her career at Kings Park Hospital as a nurse’s aide. While working at the hospital Gloria met her husband Leroy Cox (d. 2000) who also worked at the hospital. They raised three sons Ronald (Carol Riley) Arthur (Vincene Verdun) Edward (Marilyn Robinson Singleton d.2024) and a daughter Regina.  Gloria and Leroy actively participated in raising their niece Cebel. Gloria took great delight in her grandchildren, Shayla Milan (Sterling) born in 1983 in Columbus Ohio, and Ashlee born 22 years later in Huntington. Shayla blessed Gloria with a great-grandson Sage in 2015 and great grand-daughter Sloane in 2018. Ashlee lived with Gloria for the last nineteen years of Gloria’s life and assisted her mother, Gina, with providing Gloria with loving and caring attention, and an amazing quality of life in her last years as her health declined. Gloria once told Ashlee, “The nurse handed you to your mom and then placed you in my lap. We came home and we have enjoyed life together ever since.”

 During her over three-quarter century residence in Huntington, Gloria actively participated in the community. She was a member of the Huntington Chapter of the NAACP, and an active member of St. John’s Episcopal Church for over seventy years where she sang in the choir and taught Sunday School. She volunteered in the South Huntington Public Schools as a tutor and assistant to the teachers.  Gloria was active in The Park Village Senior Group in Huntington for almost forty years and was commemorated as Outstanding Senior of the year in 2006.  Gloria remained vocal and vibrant throughout her retirement. She helped the elderly in the community by transporting them to doctor’s appointments and to get groceries. At 92, Gloria planned her daughter’s surprise retirement party including handwritten invitations. Gloria and her daughter Gina travelled extensively, including trips to Hawaii, Barbados, Bermuda, South Carolina, Las Vegas, Disneyworld and Niagara Falls. Gloria often visited her son Arthur in Columbus Ohio and enjoyed her 97^th birthday in Jamaica surrounded by her family and friends.

So many people loved Gloria and enjoyed the unconditional uncritical love she lavished on everyone she encountered. Included in that number are her brothers and sisters in-law Robert (Georgie), Eddie (Cassie), Anna Mae Jones, Russell (Mary), Ossie Bell Harris (Garland), Ora Lu Oliver (John), many nieces, nephews and cousins, four bonus grandchildren Rea Woods-Yates (Christopher), Shukura, Joshua (Tenekia) and Vincent (Kaniece) Ingram and 11 bonus great-grandchildren Karibieane, Madison, Eden, Paige, Anais, Hope, SaVyah, Solomon, Marlon, Lauren and Vincent. Gloria had many friends including Hilda Lane, Mary Simon, Alice Rowe, sister-in-law Georgie Cox Lambert, many members of St. John church and Uriel, Inez, Gloria, and Lucille. The family acknowledges Barbara Rowe and Christina Lewis for their diligent assistance to Gina in her care.