Gloria D. Keith

CHARLOTTE - It is an impossible task to commemorate this life into words. There are not enough words nor enough pages to adequately capture the essence and spirit of the person known as Gloria Ellen Dowd Keith.

Mrs. Gloria Ellen Dowd Keith, beloved wife of Graeme McGregor Keith, died on Wednesday August 30th, 2017, in the place she loved most, her home in Charlotte, North Carolina, surrounded by the people she loved. She was 83.

We are proud to celebrate her life. We cry tears of loss as The Author of Life has taken a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, church member, neighbor, and friend. We cry tears of joy for the Lord has called home one of His own, welcoming her with open arms crying, “Well done my good and faithful servant!”

Gloria was born July 24, 1934, in Greensboro, North Carolina, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Russell Dowd of Charlotte and sister to her adoring older brother, deceased in 1993, Herbert Russell Dowd Junior of Bear Creek, North Carolina. She came into this world wide-eyed with wonder, a spirit of curiosity and creativity and a heart overflowing with compassion, kindness, generosity and joy. These God-given gifts imparted in infancy bloomed into a fragrance that only grew sweeter with maturity.

She attended East High School in Memphis, Tennessee. Gloria later enrolled at Queens College in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she was a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority, the Queens Quartette, and was a regular contributor of poetry to numerous local publications. No amount of accolades would ever compare to the day Gloria met Graeme McGregor Keith. They were married in 1954 at Myers Park Methodist Church in Charlotte. Graeme was the love of Gloria’s life for 63 years, and as she herself penned, “their love was set in eternity.” Gloria and Graeme have an enduring love for one another that permeated everything and everyone. Their love brought forth three other treasured loves, two boys and a girl, Graeme McGregor Keith Junior, Russell Dowd Keith and Carey Ellen Keith Heberton.

Gloria’s life was fragrant with her love for her family, her neighbors, her friends and her church community. As a member of The Junior League, The Charlotte Assembly, a Stephen’s Minister and an Elder of Myers Park Presbyterian Church, her service to the Lord was marked by her selflessness and hospitality. She was a lover of God’s Word which poured forth in the writings of her own poems. Gloria was a woman who cherished her friends and her friends felt cherished by her. Distance and time only made her heart grow fonder.

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. He has given us 83 years with Gloria whose life has faithfully reflected the goodness of her Creator. In Gloria, we have been given His unconditional love which she so generously poured out to all. In Gloria, we have witnessed His kindness. In Gloria, we have received His graciousness. In Gloria, we have beheld His gentleness. In Gloria, we have experienced His patience. In Gloria, we have all tasted and seen that the Lord is good. In Gloria, we have all seen the face of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. She was a woman who understood the incredible gift of grace she had been given from God our Heavenly Father, the redemption of her sins and restoration of her relationship through the sacrifice of her perfect and holy Savior Jesus, who joyfully and triumphantly welcomes her home with outstretched arms and an overflowing heart.

The family appreciates the attentive care given to Gloria by Dr. Lorri Ayers at Perspective Health and Awareness, Hospice and Palliative Care of Charlotte Region, and the entire staff of CMC Mercy Hospital. We are incredibly grateful for the devotion and countless hours of her caregivers Patti Johnson, Grace Martinez, and Cammi Hayes who became some of her closest friends.

It has been said that one who is blessed is given a life of many years and a house with much family. She will be lovingly remembered by the love of her life, Graeme McGregor Keith, her three children, Graeme (Greg) McGregor Keith Junior and his wife India Early Keith, Russell Dowd Keith and Carey Ellen Keith Heberton and her husband Scott Ewing Heberton; eight grandchildren: Dowd Simpson and her husband Webb, Graeme Keith III and his wife Jennifer, Barrett Hughes and her husband Brock, Tanner Girdwood and her husband Thomas, Cody Keith, Locke Heberton, Ryan Keith and Ellie Heberton; and five great-grandchildren.

We will celebrate Gloria’s life and her tremendous faith, love, and devotion to Jesus Christ at Myers Park Presbyterian Church on Thursday, September 7th, 2017 at 2:00 pm. Interment will be private. The family will receive friends following the service in Oxford Hall.

In lieu of flowers, the family would like memorial donations in honor of Gloria Ellen Dowd Keith sent to any of the following organizations: Samaritan’s Purse/ designated for Hurricane Harvey: mail to: Samaritan’s Purse – Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund, P.O. Box 3000, Boone, NC 28607 or online at https://www.samaritanspurse.org/disaster/hurricane-harvey/; Billy Graham Evangelistic Association – Library: mail to: BGEA –Library, One Billy Graham Pkwy, Charlotte, NC 28207; The Keith Family YMCA in Charlotte, NC: mail to: YMCA of Greater Charlotte, Attention: Keith Family YMCA, 400 East Morehead St., Charlotte, NC 28202.

Condolences may be offered at www.harryandbryantfuneralhome.com.

“One lives in the hope of becoming a memory.” Gloria Ellen Dowd Keith will remain a memory in the lives of those she loved for all of eternity.