Gloria Chenoweth, 101, of Harrisonville, MO (formerly of Freeman, MO) passed away on Tuesday, November 29, 2022 at her home.  Funeral services were held Friday, December 2, 2022  at the Atkinson Funeral Home in Harrisonville, Missouri. Burial in the  Pineville Cemetery,  Pineville, MO. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions to Freeman Presbyterian Church.

Gloria Shea Chenoweth was born in Anderson, MO, on August 5, 1921. She was the youngest of 6 children, born to Matthew and Emma (Randall) Shea. Her father, an Irish immigrant, passed away in 1927, leaving her mom to provide for the family. Although, she remembers the depression, she does not remember ever being hungry or needing anything but her family. Many of her siblings combined resources to get by, and her mom, a seamstress, would sit at the sewing machine and sing hymns for hours as she worked and earned money for the family. Her father worked for the railroad, so one of the benefits was that they traveled often by train - many times traveling from Southern Missouri to Kansas City to visit family.

Gloria graduated from Anderson High School in 1939 and attended SMSU in Springfield, MO, receiving her elementary teaching certification. In 1942, she married Joe Chenoweth, also a teacher. Joe joined the Air Force and became a pilot in WWII. During those years, they lived in New Mexico, Mississippi, Florida, Nebraska, Texas, and eventually settled back in Missouri with their four children: JoAnne, Denny, Tim, and Joe Harry. One of her favorite memories she liked to tell about this season of their life is of her meeting Joe in St. Louis while he was in Air Force training and when they were leaving each other they only had 75 cents between them, she got 40 cents to take with her and Joe took 35 cents. She lived through the great depression, WWII, and every other significant event over the last 100 years.

Gloria was a proud housewife and mom, an office worker, and also a teacher. In 1972, she went to work for the Midway School District as a bookkeeper, as her husband, Joe, was the Superintendent of Schools. She retired from there in 1995 at the age of 74, having survived a complete overhaul of the accounting system and conversion to a new computer system, something she swore she would not be able to conquer. However, if you know Gloria Chenoweth, you know she would not let anything get the best of her. Gloria has seen hundreds of ball games, plays, dance recitals, graduations, and various competitions, because jumping in a car and going to see her kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids "perform" was always high on her priority list. She was a GREAT cook, with some of her specialties being homemade noodles with chicken, cole slaw, all kinds of pies and cakes, and her famous Mississippi Fudge. She also loves to spend her days making homemade divinity at Christmas time to give away to family and friends.

Gloria raised her four children: JoAnne Myers (Darrell) of Harrisonville, MO; Denny Chenoweth (Carol) of Neosho, MO; Tim Chenoweth (Jennie) of Mazon, IL; and Joe Chenoweth (Brenda) of Harrisonville, MO. She has 10 grandchildren; 24 great-grandchildren; and a large number of family and friends. She is preceded in death by her husband, Joe; her son, Denny; her parents; all of her siblings; and many other family members.

We are celebrating today as a birthday celebration, because if you were ever around for her birthday, all she really wanted for her birthday was to be with and around her family and friends - her greatest gifts.