Gloria Davis Henson's Obituary
Gloria Gay (Davis) Henson August 13, 1925 to November 17, 2014 Funeral Service at 12:30PM on November 28, 2014 Wildwood Chapel in Restland Cemetery in Dallas, TX Born in Cisco, Texas to Vivian Lee (Taylor) and Everett Hunter Davis. She lived with husband, Walter Henson, and family in Beaumont, Richardson, Plano, Dallas, and finally Houston. After Walter’s death, Gloria lived with their daughter, Sara Lee, and her husband, Bruce Lenzer, now residing in Williamsburg, VA. Gloria is survived by their 4 children: Everett Landrith Henson; Sara Lee Lenzer, Pamela Gay Nelson, and Walter Lamont Henson; Everett’s sons Aaron (& wife Amy) and Joshua; Sara Lee’s son John Paul Newton (& wife Amy) and their children and Gloria’s great-grandchildren John Paul, Jr., Samantha Marie, and Matthew Louis; and step-son Anthony Lenzer and his sons Dalton and Carter, and his daughters Gracie and Emily; Pamela’s (& husband John) son, Jerrod Nelson, and daughter, Crystal Nelson; and Walter’s (& wife Darlene) daughters Kathryn and Michelle. Gloria’s Story In Cisco, Texas during the middle of the Roaring Twenties, Gloria Gay was born to Vivian Lee (Taylor) and Everett Hunter Davis. Along with her older sister, June Taylor, the four of them formed a close knit, loving, happy family. In the early 30’s, they moved to a very small community in East Texas known as New London. It was actually an oil camp made up of families that worked for the Humble Oil Company. Soon the demand for services brought in doctors, nurses, teachers, preachers, and store keepers. Most everything the families needed was within walking distance. With steady work, these families fared very well compared to many during the Great Depression. Gloria remembered many homeless people knocking on their back door, and her mother providing nourishing food to them. The grateful people would eat on the back porch, and then move on in their search for paying work. Gloria’s tender heart was touched by these hungry, homeless people, and she wrote her first poem after watching a beggar on the street. In contrast with the vagrants, the industrious townspeople built a brand new school for the children in New London. Life was simple and happy for Gloria and her family for several years, until the fateful afternoon in 1937 when everything changed. June was thirteen, and very protective of her little eleven year old sister; while Gloria idolized her big sister. On Friday, March 18, the girls were looking forward to a long weekend because of the high school football game. However, unknown to everyone, a slow leak in the gas pipes heating the school built up to a dangerous level under the school building. Just a few minutes before the students were to be released from school, a spark in the shop classroom set off an explosion that destroyed the school and killed over 300 people, including students, teachers, school staff, and even visiting parents. June was killed, and Gloria was critically injured. Gloria’s survival was unsure for the first few weeks, but she was a strong child and pulled through. However, severe head injuries permanently damaged her eyesight. As little Gloria slowly recovered, she watched the workmen clear away the debris of the school – all the while missing her dear sister and all her best friends and teachers who had died in the explosion. In her heartache, she wrote the poem about her big sister June, and determined to do everything within her power to make her parents feel happy. Eventually, Humble Oil offered Gloria’s dad a job in Beaumont, Texas, and they decided it would be a good move to get a fresh start away from the site of so many memories. Gloria was excited to move to a “big city,” and attend Beaumont High School. She made a few close friends, and spent many hours ice skating and drawing pictures of beautiful women (she would have been a gifted clothing designer). When Gloria was just 17, she met the love of her life – Walter Henson – a tall, handsome young man signed up to serve in the Army for WWII. She told her mother the very first night she met him that he was the man she wanted to marry. They wrote letters (and saved each one) throughout the rest of the war. After the war, they married the day after she turned 21. Over the next several years, Walter worked full time and attended college, and Gloria bore their four children – two boys, two girls. Their first-born, Everett Landrith (Lanny), arrived on March 18 – exactly 11 years after the School Explosion. Gloria believed he was a special gift from God – as she often quoted, “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh – blessed be the name of the Lord.” Gloria had led a sheltered life with her parents, but after she married, her views were broadened. Walter’s family lived in the country, and had suffered many financial hardships during the Depression and following years. Walter and his young family would spend many vacation days visiting the family in Arkansas. There, they learned about outhouses, bathing in the “spring-house,” drawing water from the well, hunting raccoons, gathering eggs, and caring for farm animals. Even more important, they were exposed to family members talking easily and warmly about the Lord working in their lives, and the family sitting around the fireplace each evening singing Blue Grass gospel songs. Gloria loved the openness, and easy displays of affection – she grew very close to her new family, and especially to her Lord. Walter bought her a piano, and she spent many hours playing her favorite hymns, oftentimes with their children gathered around her singing many of the hymns that they sang in the church choir. Along with her gift of expressing her deepest feelings in music and poetry, Gloria was also blessed with a wonderful imagination. Long before the Explosion, Gloria loved to tell stories to her little friends, not knowing what she might say next, but always coming up with adventures that never failed to entertain her audience. She continued that trait with her own children; playing “poor” while cleaning the house and making it a special, fun time. Her children and their friends loved to hear Gloria recite poems, rhymes and riddles, and little skits like “The Green Hobgoblin.” As Gloria channeled her creative energies into these various outlets, she typically felt the Lord leading her in writing poems about something or someone who touched her sensitive heart. Gloria’s love for the Lord spilled over into tender love and acceptance for people, and this colored each of her poems and stories. Even though she grew up and lived in a place and time of extreme racial prejudice, she totally rejected it – Gloria saw beauty and goodness in everyone she met, especially the very old and the very young. Throughout her life, she would express her thoughts, concerns, and heartaches in her poems, and people would respond to her warmth and sweet spirit. During these last years, Gloria’s longing grew stronger to be reunited with Walter and her sister and parents, even though she found much joy though her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and her many sweet friends. Her favorite evenings were when Bruce would build a fire, and we would all sit around listening to music and visiting. Bruce would roast her marshmallows, and she would eat to her heart’s content. Her daily joy and strength to go on, she got from listening to Christian radio programs and music. She would often cite some of her favorite Bible verses to whoever was around – oftentimes a nurse or caregiver. She loved to talk with others about the Lord, and imagine what it will be like to walk and talk with Jesus. Now she is finally realizing her desires in Heaven, and I am confident that the Lord has welcomed her with open arms. Her greatest concern and desire has always been that each of her loved ones – both family and friends – come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord. She hopes that one day the circle will be unbroken – and that we’ll all be together in Paradise singing a joyful noise unto the Lord. The service for Gloria Henson will be held at 12:30 PM on Friday, November 28, 2014 in The Wildwood Chapel at Restland Fuenral Home. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Restland Funeral Home and Memorial Park, 13005 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 75238
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