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

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.