Gloria Ann Seibel

Gloria Ann Seibel, 75, of rural Millstadt, Illinois, lost her battle with cancer at home with her husband, Jim, and daughter, Debbie, by her side on Thursday, January 12th, 2023. She was born in her parents’ home on their farm in Columbia, IL, on May 23rd, 1947.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Willard and Irene (Butler) Deppe; her sisters, Joyce (Don) Hortenbury and Rosalie (Bill) Crowe; brother-in-law, Eric Seibel; and sister-in-law, Johnette Seibel.

Gloria is survived by her husband of 50 years, James Seibel of Millstadt, IL, daughter, Debra (nee Zink) Carnahan of Swansea, IL; sister, Bonnie (Larry) Kaffer of Belleville, IL; step-son, Bill (Linda) Seibel of Columbia, IL; step-daughter, Lori (Tom) Lowe of Mount Prospect, IL; step-daughter, Cheryl (Rich) Cloninger of Godfrey, IL; grandsons, Connor Carnahan, Galen Carnahan, & Duncan Carnahan; granddaughters, Emily Seibel, Elise Seibel, Claudia Lowe, Amanda Lowe, & Grace Lowe; brothers-in-law, Dan (Barb) Seibel, Tom Seibel, & Tim (Robin) Seibel; sister-in-law, Debbie Seibel; and many nieces and nephews.

She began her successful career in 1966 as a key punch operator at Scott AFB. Early in her career, her leadership skills, problem-solving logic, and cool-headedness were recognized with a promotion to Data Processing Supervisor. For 22 years she commuted to St John’s Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur, Missouri. She spearheaded the relocation of Magna Bank’s data center in Belleville, IL. Her longest commute, by commercial air, was in 1997 to supervise a large data center in Waterloo, Iowa. At Cass Commercial Bank, Bridgeton, MO, the number of her supervisees blossomed from one department of 4 workers to 75 workers in multiple departments by the time she retired 15 years later.

In addition to working full-time, she led the Girl Scout troop from 1974-1978 in Millstadt, IL, bred and showed champion beagles in the 1980s & 1990s, and produced many hand-crafted arts through tole painting, crochet, knitting, macramé, and meticulously sewing everything from her daughter’s wedding gown to upholstery for 3 antique car hotrods her husband built. After retiring she ran her pig races carnival game for fundraisers at her grandsons’ school, High Mount, and her husband’s car club, Gear Jammers. She donated dozens of baskets of new items from her yard sale-ing to charity raffles from Cub Scouts to Sportsman’s Club.

But Gloria’s joy was quilting. Her hundreds of pieced quilts, wall hangings, and table runners revealed her amazing talents of creative use of color, visual-spatial skills, and machine sewing. When a quilt pattern she purchased didn’t have enough blocks, she drew some more, as in her American Quilters Society awarded, queen size quilt, North by Northwest. She never met a block pattern that she couldn’t master, a cloth print she couldn’t fussy-cut to kaleidoscope effect or sew multiple tiny triangles of cloth to a perfect center point.

She served as President of the Hearts and Hands Quilt Guild and was honored as their show’s featured quilter in 2017. She excelled as a quilting teacher for a few guilds; for stores, Jackman’s Fabrics in Fairview Heights, IL, and St Louis, MO; Raccoon Hollow in Waterloo, IL, Warm N Cozy in Columbia, IL; and in her own Learning Loft studio at home. Four of her students, collectively referred to as the Saturday Girls, tell of Gloria’s simplifying quilting instructions and sharing life wisdom.

Visitation will be from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm on Thursday, January 19th, 2023 at Valhalla Gaerdner Holten Funeral Home, Belleville, Illinois.

Funeral will be at 11:00 am on Friday, January 20th, 2023 at Valhalla Gaerdner Holten Funeral Home, Belleville, Illinois, with an additional visitation one hour prior to service.

Interment will follow in Valhalla Gardens of Memory Cemetery, Belleville, Illinois.

Memorials may be made to Unity Hospice, so they can help more loved ones through painful times.