Finding a way forward…
No parent expects to bury their child but with her family’s help Gloria has kept late daughter Caron close to her heart…
Caron Keating was a free-living spirit - and it came as no surprise to Gloria that this very beautiful girl wanted to follow her mum into TV.
Her first job was as a presenter in Ulster, but with her mother’s genes she was soon back in the UK – as a
Blue Peter presenter.
‘I was so proud,’ Gloria says. It then led to a show called
Family Affairs, with Gloria and Carol presenting, and eventually Michael, her younger son, joining the show.
But in 1997, weeks after Caron had her second child Gabriel (now 24), she found a lump in her breast – it turned out to be cancer and she chose to step away from the limelight to fight the disease.
Caron lost her battle on 13 April 2004. She was only 41.
‘It’s the wrong way round, whatever their age. It was indescribable,’ Gloria recalls, on the pain of losing her.
Her darling girl was buried in St Peter’s Church, Hever, Kent. Over time, Gloria has taken comfort in visiting her there and the family has set up a charity – the Caron Keating Foundation. ‘Helping other cancer patients in Caron’s name was the beginning of my healing,’ says Gloria simply.
These days, despite being in her 80s, Gloria’s wisdom is often imparted on Loose Women and she still reports regularly on Rip Off Britain.
‘I never wanted to sit in a chair and just read a paper. TV energises me,’ she explains.
Age, as she says, is just another number to negotiate.
She is married to hairdresser Stephen Way, and they live in Kent with their beautiful Cavalier King Charles, Polly. Stephen admits he was besotted with his wife from the first date.
‘I found someone who I could really admire,’ he says. Gloria recalls the proposal. ‘I was quite shocked to be honest,’ she laughs.
But she agreed and they married in 1998. Stephen was by her side when Caron died.
Talking of her own death with a twinkle in her eye, Gloria says: ‘I’ll be buried with a pair of shoulder pads. I like a set of hair curlers, I think they’ll go in the coffin as well,’ she jokes. Let’s hope that’s a while away yet, as she is a calming presence on our TV screens in these turbulent times. Gloria recalls the time her own mother, May, was invited on to The Des O’Connor Show, and was asked by the presenter why her child made a good a chat-show host. May replied: ‘ Well, you know, Des, when Gloria was young, she was tongue-tied. It was easy then and the doctor put a silver pair of scissors under your tongue, he just snipped it – it released her tongue. Do you know, Des? I often wonder did I do the right thing?!’
You most certainly did, Mrs Hunniford. A world without Gloria’s chat shows would have been a very dull place indeed.