Gammon, Lewis Stephenson, Paula

loved music and possessed a beautiful soprano voice. She studied vocal performance for five years with Edward Bing, co-founder of the Houston Grand Opera and Houston’s premier vocal coach. Her greatest love, however, aside from that for her husband and family, was for the classroom, no matter which side of the teacher’s desk. After obtaining two master’s degrees, her greatest accomplishment was a Ph.D. from Rice University in Central European History. She taught for one year at the University of Houston Clear Lake and sixteen years at Houston Baptist University. As long as she was physically able, she loved participating in continuing education courses at Rice.

Gloria loved the Lord and her church, first at Houston’s First Baptist Church and then as a charter member of Tallowood Baptist Church. She enjoyed singing in the church choir and served as music librarian at Tallowood for many years. For all of her adult life, she worked with children in Sunday School from babies in the nursery to the fifth grade, teaching all the while.

She served on various church committees and was a member of the Annuity Board of the Southern Baptist Convention for several years.

Gloria was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, Phi Kappa Phi, and a patron of the Junior League. Wiley and Gloria were patrons of the Houston Grand Opera, patrons of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society, and supporters of the Houston Symphony and the Alley Theatre. Gloria was predeceased by her parents, a newborn brother, and a niece Jan Wagner. She is survived by her sister Irene Pritchett, a niece Jo Canton of Richmond, Texas, three great-grand nieces and three great-grand nephews.

The Biles were happily married for seventy-one years. Some of their happiest times together were spent on some twenty-five European trips and two trips to Egypt. They loved each other dearly.

A Memorial Concert at Tallowood Baptist Church Chapel is scheduled for Sunday, August 21, 2022 at 2:30PM in the afternoon. Memorial gifts may be made to the Music Department of Tallowood Baptist Church.