Gloria Head Jordan

Gloria Maxine Head Jordan, 85, of Austin, Texas, formerly of Galveston, Texas, and Clarksville, Tenn., died Sunday, March 13 at Seton Medical Center in Austin. Her service will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 17, at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home at 2620 South Congress Avenue in Austin, with the Rev. Bob Gribble officiating. David Stevens will conduct a four-person a cappella ensemble performing her favorite hymns.

A private graveside ceremony will be held at Greenwood Cemetery in Clarksville, Tennessee.

Mrs. Jordan was born Jan. 17, 1931 in Atlanta, Georgia, the only child of Maxie Moss and Garnett William Head. She graduated from Russell High School in Atlanta and David Lipscomb College in Nashville, Tenn. She was a teacher of French, English, and gifted studies at public schools in Atlanta and Bethesda, Maryland. She taught Latin at the Clarksville Academy.

On June 23, 1957, in the Chapel at Fort McPherson, Georgia, she married Dr. Edwin Constantine Jordan, who preceded her in death, as did her son, Scott Wayne Jordan.

Her husband, Dr. Jordan, was an anesthesiologist, who served for 27 years in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, retiring as a full colonel in 1977. After their marriage in Georgia, the couple's first post was Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda. Other posts included Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii; Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center, Denver, Colorado; and Fort Campbell Hospital, Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Dr. Jordan served in Vietnam and was a recipient of the Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit.

Mrs. Jordan was a life-long member of the Church of Christ and served in many important roles in the church, including teaching the Hebrew Scriptures and leading choral singing groups. She studied both Hebrew and Greek in her pursuit of Biblical scholarship.

Throughout her life she was deeply involved in music and the arts. She was a painter, a singer and a music teacher. She played piano and organ and taught both choral and keyboard music.

She was a businesswoman and residential designer. She owned several rental properties in Clarksville and delighted in completely redesigning all of them, from the inside out. She did the same when she moved to Galveston, Texas, in 2007 to live with her daughter in a historic home in Galveston's East End Historic District. Mrs. Jordan directed a complete renovation of the interior, exterior, and garden of the home in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike in 2008.

In September 2015, Mrs. Jordan suffered a stroke and went through four months of rehabilitation at Brookdale Westlake Hills Senior Living Center in Austin. Showing great strength and determination at the end of her life, she overcame tremendous obstacles and regained both physical mobility and the ability to communicate. She moved home to live with her daughter in Austin in January 2016 and enjoyed several weeks of good health surrounded by family. In February, she suffered the first in a series of gastrointestinal infections that led to her death.

Survivors include three children, Molly Jordan Dannenmaier of Austin; Sally Jordan Wiggins (James) of Lansing, Michigan; and Robert Dudley Jordan II (Terri) of Clarksville; and five grandchildren, Benjamin Gildrie Dannenmaier, Kate Jordan Dannenmaier, Claire Jordan Wiggins, Julia Jordan Wiggins and Robert Garrick Jordan.

Arrangements are entrusted to Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 2620 South Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas 78404, and Neal-Tarpley-Parchman Funeral Home, 335 Franklin Street, Clarksville, Tennessee 37040.