E. WILEY & GLORIA C. BILES
10/10/1923 - 02/24/2021 - 10/29/1926 - 02/21/2021
Reflective of their love for each other, on February 24, 2021, Dr. Ervin Wiley Biles went to his just reward following his wife Dr. Gloria C. Biles, who died February 1, 2021. A native of North Carolina, Wiley Biles was born October 10, 1923, to the union of the Reverend Thomas Hudson and Penelope Parker Biles. His parents and his only sibling, Dr. Paul Everette Biles, a clinical psychologist, preceded him in death. Wiley received his BS degree from Wake Forest University after which he entered the first class at Baylor Medical College that spent all four years in Houston after the school moved its location here. His internship and radiology residency were in New Orleans. He was in the U. S. Army of Occupation in Japan from 1947 to 1949 as the only radiologist for a 500-bed hospital in Osaka. In 1952, he began his radiology practice in Houston which continued until his retirement in 1991. He served at St. Luke’s and Texas Children’s Hospital from 1955 to 1966 with the remainder of his practice in the Memorial Hospital System. He was a member of the Texas Medical Society, the American Medical Association, the Houston Radiological Society, the Texas Radiological Society, the Radiological Society of North America, and was a Fellow of the American College of Radiology.
Wiley and his wife Gloria, whom he married in 1949, were charter members of Tallowood Baptist Church where he served as deacon, usher, Sunday School worker and teacher, and a member of various committees. As an accomplished pianist and organist, he served as organist at various times at Tallowood, First Baptist, and Second Baptist churches, as well as a substitute organist for various other Houston churches. As a hobby, he enjoyed research into the origin of names for Houston streets. Dr. Biles is survived by a sister-in-law, Patricia Hatcher of Jacksonville, Florida, and two nieces Christina Ayers of North Carolina and Melissa Kekipi of Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Gloria Loretta Crevenstene Biles was born on October 29, 1926, in Houston’s St. Joseph Hospital, the elder daughter of George Graham and Lillian Marie Oriol Crevenstene. The family home was at 411 Rusk Avenue, now the site of the U. S. Federal Court Building and Tranquility Park. When Gloria was nine, her mother died, and Gloria and her sister went to live with their great-aunt Irene Mellinger and her husband John J. Mellinger, treasurer of Sweeney Jewelers. Three years later, their great-aunt died, after which the girls were reared by a close family friend.
Gloria was a lady of many talents. At an early age, she mastered the art of dressmaking and made her own dresses from couturier patterns for a number of years, even after marriage. She was an excellent chef, delighting family and friends with her culinary creations. Gloria obtained a bachelor’s degree in business administration and enjoyed bookkeeping. Gloria