Gloria Augusta Sansone Strong

Published 10:41 am Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Gloria Augusta Sansone Strong died at age 93 on May 9, 2015, at Jones County Rest Home.

Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to noon with services to follow at noon Wednesday, May 13, 2015, at Glenwood Funeral Home. Interment will follow at Cedar Hills Cemetery.

Gloria was born on Aug. 7, 1921, in the Vicksburg Infirmary. Her parents were Cleo (Keo) Thaxton Sansone and Leon Matthew Sansone.

Gloria lived in Vicksburg for 85 years. She was reared by her grandmother, Augusta Manning Thaxton, and her mother, who she called Keo.

Her early years were distinguished by many moves, including a year in Natchez. Keo managed, for four years, the Carroll Hotel, where the family lived during Gloria’s time at Carr Central High School (Class of 1939). Gloria often worked the hotel switchboard.

She worked for the Vicksburg Public Schools until she moved with her grandmother at cherry blossom time in 1941 to Washington, D.C., where they lived at the Evangeline Hotel For Women and where Gloria worked for the contract preparation unit at the Washington Naval Yard.

She had vivid memories of the events surrounding Dec. 7, 1941, including blackouts and machine gun emplacements. Gloria moved back home in the spring of 1942 and subsequently held jobs with the U.S. Government, the LeTourneau Co., and the Illinois Central Railroad in Mobile, Ala., and Vicksburg.

She met William Strong at Gibson Memorial Methodist Church where they were married on Nov. 2, 1947. They built a house on Oak Street, where they reared their children, Billy and Susan. During 1954, in their backyard on Oak Street, they started a lawnmower repair business that grew to be Strong’s on Highway 27. They retired in 2002 after 48 continuous years in business.

Gloria was a lifelong learner and storyteller. In her 40s she learned to play the piano with Susan. She bought a Radio Shack TRS-80 computer in the late 1970s and taught herself TRS-DOS. At age 91 she wrote a 75-page account of her life and she learned acrylic painting through a program sponsored by The Lauren Rogers Museum of Art at the Jones County Rest Home in Ellisville.

She taught Sunday school for 35 years at Gibson Memorial Methodist Church.

Gloria had a lifelong affection for her many dogs starting with Bugsy and ending with her beloved Zelda and JC (namesake of the Jones County Rest Home), the pet she groomed and fed at every opportunity.

Gloria is survived by her son, William B. Strong Jr. (Marcella); her daughter, Susan Augusta Strong Cannon (Charles); her grandchildren, Leigh Anne Strong, Jack Benjamin Strong (Anna), Russell Glenn Cannon (Shannon), and Victoria Augusta Cannon; and her great-grandchildren Lucy Gayle Mellen, William Philip Mellen, Caroline Isabell Strong, and Daniel Oliver Strong.

She is predeceased by her husband, William Benjamin Strong.

Honorary Pallbearers will be James Strong, Robert Strong, Clyde Strong, Mark Strong, Charles Cannon, Ben Strong, and Russell Cannon.

The family expresses appreciation to Drs. Michael Beasley, Charles Cannon, and Mark Norton and to the many caretakers at Jones County Rest Home. They also appreciate earlier drivers Mary Neill, Katrina Hare, and Brenda Ellzey.

Memorials may be made to Gibson Memorial United Methodist Church, Vicksburg, First United Methodist Church, Laurel, or Bear Creek Methodist Protestant Church, Utica.