Gloria Dell Breland Hughes was born in Metairie, Louisiana, on February 24, 1931, and transitioned on December 29, 2023, in Ponte Vedra Beach , Florida. She was the 10th child of 11 to Robert Milton Breland (1889-1959) and Cora Peirce Breland (1891-19360 and she outlived all of her siblings. Her parents named her after the actresses Gloria Swanson and Dorothy Dell.
Her parents were born and raised near Sunny Hill, Louisiana , and got married in Baton Rouge. Her family moved many times before se was born. After she was born , they moved again before she was 2 years old, to Mobile , Alabama. While her family lived in Mobile, her mother died from cancer, three before Gloria's 5th birthday.
After her mother died, Gloria lived for a short time with her eldest sister, Beryl, in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Then she lived with her father and siblings in Ansley , Louisiana, for about a year. By 1938, their family had moved to Northport , Alabama, just across the Black Warrior River from Tuscaloosa.
Gloria began first grade while the family lived in Northport. But in fifth grade she attended school in Thomas, Louisiana, in sixth grade she was in Eudora, Arkansas, and in seventh grade she was in Fayette, Alabama. Then in 1944 she moved from Fayette to Tuscaloosa. She attended Tuscaloosa High School, where she was inducted into the National Honor Society, and graduated in 1948.
In 1950, she lived with five of her siblings in Tuscaloosa, with her older brother, Robert, listed as head of the household in the U. S. Census. She earned a bachelor's degree in sociology at the University of Alabama in 1952 and remained a lifelong fan of Crimson Tide football. While she was in college , she met her future husband, Arley E "Bill" Hughes Jr., on a blind date. Bill and Gloria were married in Tuscaloosa on July 19, 1952, the celebrated their 71st wedding annivesary6 in 2023.
They moved next to Montgomery, Alabama . Then in 1957 they moved to Mobile, Alabama , where Bill's brother and several of Gloria's brothers lived. Their sons Scott, Brian and Tom were all born in Mobile over the next several years.
In the early 1990s, Gloria took a trip to China with her niece, Carol Knight. A few years later, Gloria and Carol, Carol's brother Charlie Young, and Charlie 's wife , Mary Adair Young, took a trip to Russia together for a tour of Russian Orthodox churches.
Bill and Gloria lived in Mobile for more than 64 years. In 2022, they sold the house they had lived in since 1967 and moved to a continuous care facility in Ponte Vedra, Florida, close to where their eldest son and his family live. In Mobile, they were members of Spring Hill Avenue Baptist Church of Ponte Vedra Beach.
Both of Gloria's parents all of her 10 siblings, and her son, Brian, predeceased her. Her survivors, include her husband, Bill: her sons Mark (Robin), Scott and Tom(Kelley): five grandchildren, five great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.
February 24, 1931 - December 29, 2023
Visitation is 9 a.m. Saturday Jan 27,2024 at Hill Spring Baptist Church,335 Eliza Jordan Rd N, Mobile, AL 36608. A memorial service will follow at 10 a.m.. Gloria's ashes will be interred at Mobile Memorial Gardens Cemetery,6100 Three Notch Rd Mobile, AL 36619.
