Gloria May Bouskill (20 Sep 1936 - 13 Aug 2020)

In loving memory of Gloria Bouskill who sadly passed away on 13th August 2020 in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. Born 20th September 1936 in Plymouth. Wife of Ron, mother of Mark and Lisa, grandmother of Josh and Laura, sister of Joan. Happy memories of a much loved wife, mother and grandmother.

There was a small family service for Gloria's cremation at Lodge Hill Crematorium, Birmingham, on Friday 28th August. A service to celebrate Gloria's life will be held at St. Matthias, Torquay in 2021 when COVID-19 restrictions have hopefully eased. Gloria's family will also be organising a celebration of her life in Plymouth during 2021, details to be confirmed.

Donations in Gloria's memory for the Alzheimer's Society and/or Cancer Research UK would be gratefully appreciated by her family.

Gloria's family would appreciate your memories and photos of her so please do add them to this page.

Eulogy for Gloria Bouskill given 28th August 2020 by Rev. Jon Grant at Lodge Hill Crematorium, Birmingham:

Gloria May Gray was born in Plymouth on the 20th September 1936 to Gladys and Stanley, followed 14 months later by her sister Joan. The second World War hit Plymouth hard and St. Stephen’s church and associated primary school that Gloria and Joan should have attended was bombed. Instead they had to go to St Joseph’s catholic school. They also attended the Pembroke Street Baptist Church Sunday school where they enjoyed lots of trips out, with many great memories made. Gloria went on to Plymouth Public Secondary School and had happy memories of mischief making! After that she attended Plymouth College of Art. Joan said that even though they never had much growing up, the two girls were always happy and were brought up in a loving family. Gloria had always loved fish; her dad Stanley used to go fishing early in the morning before work and she loved to eat the ‘catch of the day’, helping to prepare what her dad had caught.

After leaving college, Gloria’s first job was at Bellhouse and Binney, painting lampshades for standard lamps. Her strength of character shone through when she complained to the management about the poor working conditions at the company, organising colleagues to campaign for better facilities. Gloria was always very artistic and after a few years at her first employers she got a much wanted job at the Plymouth GPO Drawing Office (where her boss got her to draw his Christmas cards). There she stayed until she married Ron.

Gloria met her future husband at a cycling club event; Gloria had gone with some friends, but romance blossomed, and the rest is history. Gloria and Ron were married on the 4th December 1957 at St Mary’s church in Plympton, Gloria made her own wedding dress and, as a talented seamstress, made a lot of her own clothes.

Ron served his national service in Singapore; Gloria and Ron moved there in 1961 so that Ron could take up a job working for the MOD at the Singapore Naval Base (prior to National Service he had worked in Devonport Dockyard, where he’d trained as an electrician). Their time in Singapore had a big impact upon Gloria and Ron and they made many lifelong friends whilst they were living there.

Gloria was the proud mum of Mark who was born 2 years before they moved back to the UK in 1964 (he had his second birthday whilst they were travelling home, including a stop at the Pyramids in Egypt!). Although they never lived abroad again, travel always remained an important part of their lives with many happy holidays with friends. When Ron retired, after a long and successful career with the MOD, they enjoyed winters in Spain for a number of years.

Going back to the young family, on return from Singapore they lived in Plymouth for a while before living in Cheshire between 1967 – 1971. Ron and Gloria were about to buy a caravan and were getting their car measured up for a tow bar when they found out that Gloria was pregnant with Lisa, whom once again, Gloria was very proud of. Mark said that he got a sister instead of a caravan! The family moved back to Plymouth in 1971 where they settled once again. Mark and Lisa remember childhood family holidays to Cornwall where great memories were made. Gloria didn’t work full-time after marrying Ron but she had part-time jobs when the children were older, including working as a nursing Auxiliary at Plymouth Eye Infirmary and later having a Saturday morning job on the till at a friend’s garage.

Gloria had a daughter in law Julie and a son in law Simon, otherwise known as Steve (by Ron at least)! She also had two grandchildren Josh and Laura and loved all her family very much. Gloria was incredibly supportive of family and generous with her time and love as well as financial support. It wasn’t just the human family members Gloria loved, but also her ‘granddogs’ Jesse, Merlot, Laika and Bailey; all of whom she spoilt rotten.

Gloria enjoyed cooking, gardening, and trips to the theatre with friends as well as travelling (even into her 80s she was still exploring new places with her last two holidays being to Norway and Romania). She liked the countryside but she especially loved the sea. Gloria had a wonderful group of girlfriends, regularly meeting for coffee mornings and lunches. Her passion for art continued and she was a long-term member of a fine arts society in Plymouth. She loved her clothes, shoes and handbags, taking a great pride in her appearance; her elegance was something many people commented on during her lifetime. Ron and Gloria were very sociable people and were always out with friends for dinner, at a variety of functions, or entertaining at home.

Ron sadly became ill and Gloria nursed him throughout the last few months of his life until he passed away on the 10th July 2008 aged just 75; Ron’s passing impacted upon Gloria and the family greatly. He was a much loved husband, father and grandfather.

Gloria was a very caring person, a good friend, always encouraging of others and she had a heart of gold.
Gloria remained relatively fit right up until recently, but suddenly and unexpectedly Gloria passed away on the 13th August.

She will be greatly missed by the family and friends. Nothing, not even death can take away the good, happy memories we have of Gloria, they will always be with us.