Gloria Kay Smith

Gloria Kay Smith died at home at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 29, while holding hands with her husband Blaine. Her two sons, Steve and Mike, were there. She had been ill since December but was not in pain. She would have turned 81 on June 30.

She was a wonderful wife for 60 years and as a Mom for 59 years, was a fixer of injuries, a soother of broken hearts and our biggest backer in good times and bad. With three men in her life, she used to say, her biggest role was referee. She was a great one.

Gloria was born on June 30, 1941, in Marlow to James Ralph Hamilton and Alma Vestal Hamilton and grew up in Duncan with sisters Barbara and Ginny, who she cherished. She graduated from Chattanooga High School in 1959 and met Blaine at the University of Oklahoma. They married on Jan. 20, 1962 and for 23 years lived an Army life. Steve and Mike were born two years apart at Elmendorf Air Force Base outside of Anchorage, Alaska. The Army also took the family to Indiana, Oklahoma, Missouri, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Virginia and finally back to Oklahoma at Fort Sill. Blaine retired from the Army in 1984 and she and Gloria moved to Duncan, where she had grown up. She retired from the Civil Service at Fort Sill in 1986.

Mom loved books, crossword puzzles, Coca Cola and made room in her heart for 13 wonderful dogs over the years plus those of her sons. The one with the biggest heart, Cowboy, was naturally her dog. She truly glowed when sitting around a kitchen table talking and laughing with her sisters and their families and all of the Hamilton crew. Most of all in life, she loved Blaine and her boys and they loved her.

A memorial service will be held at a later date.