On Wednesday, January 24, 2018, Gloria Jean Arnold passed away in her home in Austin, Texas, at the age of 96. Gloria was born in Kelseyville, California, the fourth daughter of Reuben B. Rickabaugh, an entrepreneur and fruit orchard farmer, and Emma Priscilla Harper Rickabaugh. When Gloria was only 13, Reuben died, leaving Emma to shepherd Gloria and her four sisters, Joyce, Jane, June, and Jasmine, through Depression Era life. Gloria enjoyed her school years. In 1939 she was elected Attendant to the Queen at the area Almond Blossom Festival. Though the family saw years of struggle, Gloria remembered fondly her small-town childhood in Northern California with her mother and sisters. After graduating from high school, Gloria and a girlfriend traveled by Greyhound bus across the southwest to Houston, where she enrolled in the Hermann Hospital School of Nursing. In nursing school, Gloria was number one in her class for three years, and she graduated with highest honors. After graduation, Gloria worked as a surgical nurse for well-known Houston physician Dr. E.W. Bertner. While a student at Hermann, she met Dr. Hiram Arnold, who was the instructor for her nursing class in pharmacology. Their developing relationship was interrupted by World War II when Hiram was deployed overseas as a Captain with the Army's 127th General Hospital Unit. At the end of the war, within days of his return from Europe, Hiram and Gloria were married, a union that was to continue for 62 years. The newly married couple lived in Galveston, where Gloria worked as a nurse at St. Mary's Hospital, then moved to Houston, where Hiram entered private practice. They soon started a family with sons Frank Rickabaugh born in 1947 and Forrest Douglas in 1950. Settling in southwest Houston, Hiram and Gloria raised their sons and participated for three decades in a large, close-knit extended family and in a large group of what would prove to be lifelong friends. They were for many years active members of Bethany Methodist Church. Gloria was an untiring volunteer and devoted time to, among other organizations, the Harris County Medical Society Auxiliary, the Methodist Hospital Chaplain's Office, and the American Cancer Society. When she was already 50, Gloria became an avid tennis player; she played tennis for 25 years. Retiring to East Texas in the mid-1970s, Hiram and Gloria built a home on the Toledo Bend Reservoir near Hemphill, the small town where Hiram had grown up. Hiram and Gloria were principals in developing the J.R. Huffman Library in Hemphill. After the library opened in 1994, they served for years on its board of directors. After their years of living on the lake, Hiram and Gloria moved to Lufkin, where they extended their circle of friends and were members of First United Methodist Church. Gloria volunteered as a literacy teacher and a mentor to young people. She was a member of Lufkin's History Club and the Literary Club. After Hiram passed away, Gloria continued living in Lufkin, then moved to Austin where her sons, daughters-in-law, grandchildren, and great grandchildren were living. Gloria Jean Rickabaugh Arnold is survived by, and will be greatly missed by, her sister Jasmine Jorgenson; her sons Rick and his wife Linda, and Forrest and his wife Cindy; her grandsons Sam and Mason; and her great grandchildren Daxton and Cecily. A memorial service honoring the life of Gloria Arnold will be held at the First United Methodist Church in Lufkin on Saturday, March 24th, 2018, at 11?a.m. Those wishing to make a memorial donation should contact the J.R. Huffman Library at 375 Sabine St., Hemphill, Texas, 75948.
Published in The Lufkin Daily News on Feb. 11, 2018.