Gloria Blomquist passed away on December 21st, at the age of 91.
She was born in 1927 to Ida Borla and her husband Joe, a dairyman from Greenfield. At the age of five, her family moved to Gonzales where she would soon meet Wilma Bassetti, the person who became her best friend for the next 86 years. She graduated Gonzales High School in 1945, and in 1954 while attending a square dance in Soledad, Gloria met her future husband, Walter (who, years later, would recount meeting his future wife, saying that from the literal first moment he saw Gloria, he knew she was the woman he wanted to marry). After a year-and-a-half-long courtship, Gloria and Walter were married in 1955 and soon started their family.
Over the next 63 years while living on their Gonzales farm with her husband, Gloria raised three children, was a Cub Scout den mother, a 4-H leader, and deacon at the Gonzales Community Church. She was active in her community, volunteering for 21 years at the Salinas Memorial Hospital, at the Steinbeck House in Salinas, and frequently participating in charitable efforts through her church such as food drives, fundraisers, and giving help to the homeless. Sewing and quilting were her passions, and she loved baking, her Pasta Frolla long being the perennial family favorite.
Gloria consistently taught her children and grandchildren to look for the best in people: “We’re all the same on the inside.” She was endlessly generous to her family, always doing for them what she thought was best Were they in need, Gloria would not only have given one of her descendants the shirt off her back, but indeed, she would have given them the beating heart from her chest. Above all, and without exception, she always put her family before herself.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Joe and Ida Borla and brother Harold Borla.
Gloria is survived by her husband, Walter, sons, Ron (Debbie) and Dennis (Yvette), and daughter, Loriann (Todd Baggett). She is also survived by 7 grandchildren: Dustin, Chris, Jill, Elise, Andrea, Megan, and Tyler, sister-in-law Gloria Chadwell, four great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be at 12:00pm to 1:00pm Friday, January 4, 2019 at Struve and Laporte Chapel, 41 W. San Luis Street, Salinas, CA. 93901.Funeral Services will be held at 1:00pm Friday, January 4, 2019 at Struve and Laporte Chapel, 41 W. San Luis St., Salinas. CA. 93901Burial to follow at the Garden of Memories Cemetery, 850 Abbott Street, Salinas, CA. 93901.
Family and friends are invited to a reception afterward at the American Legion Hall 419 5th St., Gonzales, CA. 93926.
In lieu of flowers, mourners are invited to donate in Gloria’s name to The Gonzales Community Church or The Alzheimer’s Association.
Funeral Arrangements by Struve and Laporte Funeral Home. Online condolences to www.struveandlaporte.com.
