Gloria Ray Huet's Obituary
Mrs. Gloria Rae Huet, 74, of Leesburg, VA, passed away on Saturday, December 11, 2010.
She was born Gloria Rae Dallas, in a small town in Texas. When she was two her parents divorced and she was cared for by her father and grandmother. Her father, David Dallas, remarried a lady called Jean a few years later. The family moved to Manhattan Kansas and two more girls were born from this union, Gloria's half sisters Jean and Sarah.
At the tender age of fifteen Gloria saw a handsome young man at a swimming pool and asked him to teach her to swim. He was a Bolivian college student at Kansas State University, Carlos Augusto Huet, the son of a French businessman and a Bolivian lady. The swimming lessons bloomed into love and three years later they were married in 1954.
The newlyweds moved to Kansas City where Augusto --or "Gus" as he was called by everyone-- got a job as a Civil Engineer. After five years their first son David Augusto Huet was born. Gloria stopped working to become a full time dedicated mother.
In 1965 the family moved to Bolivia. Gloria was pregnant and shortly after their arrival Charles Anthony Huet was born.
Gloria learned Spanish and lived in Bolivia for fourteen years. She enjoyed life there and led an active life. In addition to raising the two boys, she dedicated much of her time to works of charity. She took over the American Thrift Shop and in a few years grew it from a moribund charity that was generating only two thousand dollars a year to a very successful business that was producing in excess of fifty thousand dollars a year, which in 1970 dollars and in a poor country like Bolivia was a significant achievement. She also created a successful business that assisted American embassy personnel with the sale of their belonging when they were re-assigned to other stations. Her organizational and management skills were evident throughout her life.
The family moved back to the United States in 1980 and settled in Dale City, Virginia, a suburb of Washington D.C.
In 1986 an opportunity presented itself and Gloria and Gus went to live in Singapore for two years. She enjoyed her time there and experienced yet another culture. On their way back they fulfilled a lifelong dream of visiting Paris, France.
After her return, the entire family plus Helga, David's wife, and Cristian Cardenas, Helga's son from a previous marriage, lived together for two years. Gloria grew to love Cris as her first grandson and he in turn loved his new grandmother.
At the same time, Gloria went back to work helping people as a Home Health Aid.
In 1995 Gus passed away from congestive heart failure at age 65.
Gloria was now living with her younger son Charles and his Wife Carol. A few months after Gus passed away Nathan Huet was born. This is when Gloria became "Nana". She cared for Nathan and he was very attached to her. Almost Four years later Rachel Huet was born and Nana now had two little ones to love. Shortly after Rachel's birth the family moved to Leesburg, Virginia. She remained active with the local senior citizen groups, and with her usual vein of helping others gave free English classes to Latin American immigrants.
In 1997, at age 61 Gloria was diagnosed with stage four breast carcinoma. Statistically this should have been fatal, but Gloria's strong will and faith helped her beat the odds and the cancer went into remission for ten years, allowing her to watch Cris marry Nicole, and Nathan and Rachel become teenagers. Late in 2007 she was diagnosed again with breast cancer. She was given a prognosis of six months. But again her will and faith kept her with us for a further three years.
Gloria loved life. She always brought laughter coupled with wisdom to everyone she met. She led an active social life and was always the life of the party. She enjoyed good food, wine, and drinks. She enjoyed travel and had the fortune to visit many places around the world. She loved dogs, cats, and dolphins. And she loved movies, her favorite being "Gone With The Wind", went to movie theaters two or three times a week before the age of videos, and later became a prolific Netflix subscriber.
She spent her life worshiping God in Methodist or Non-Denominational churches, but was also very open minded and seriously studied several religious faiths including Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses. After a lifetime of searching she decided that Catholicism was her choice, and she converted to it while in her early sixties. Her last rites were performed by a Catholic priest a few days before her passing.
She is survived by her two sons David and Charles, their wives Helga and Carol, three grandchildren Chris, Nathan and Rachel, and her sisters Jean and Sarah.
She will be remembered by all of us forever.
Nana, we love you.
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