Gloria Malooly

Gloria Porth Malooly, 96, of DeWitt, Iowa, passed away Tuesday, January 14th, 2025 in Tinley Park, Illinois.

Gloria was born in Calamus, Iowa to William and Amanda (Petersen) Porth on April 6th, 1928. She was born on the family farm in rural Calamus and was an only child.  She graduated 8th grade from a one room schoolhouse in rural Calamus, Iowa and from high school in Calamus. After high school she traveled to Omaha to Airline Telecommunication School. She then traveled to Denver working for Western Union as a teletype operator and transferred to Seattle.  She returned to Iowa to attend college. She graduated from the University of Iowa in 1950. After college she moved to Chicago where she worked at the University of Illinois as an Assistant Social Director at the Medical school, and then on to Shaw Walker Office Equipment as a Service Representative.  It is there that she met her husband.  She married George Malooly on October 23rd, 1954, at St. Michaels Catholic Church in Chicago, IL. They had two children Michael Malooly, and Sue Patzkowsky. George passed away in May 1959 from Pancreatic Cancer, at which time Gloria moved to DeWitt, to be closer to her parents so they could help with raising her two young children.  Gloria went on to take classes at Marycrest to get her teaching certificate.

Gloria started working at Central Community Schools in 1961 as an English teacher and later started the art program for the entire school district. She retired as the Central DeWitt High School Art teacher in 1991- having taught for 30 years. She loved teaching and had many students go on to careers in the arts, which made her so proud. Many of her former students kept in touch with her over the years. She was honored with an admission to the Central Community High School Hall of Fame in 2011.

Gloria was very involved in the community both before and after retirement.

She was involved in the following organizations: Central Community Schools Education Foundation, Central Community Fine Arts Foundation Board, Central Community Referral Center Board, DeWitt Library Board, Ci-Ed Federated Woman’s Club, Friday Study Club, DeWitt Hospital Auxiliary, Retired School Personnel, Town and Country Garden Club, and Figge Museum Docent and Art Activities Coordinator. For many years she volunteered at Westwing putting up the monthly bulletin boards and serving Catholic communion. She volunteered until she was in her 80’s.

After her retirement Gloria traveled extensively to many places including: Europe, Ireland, Puerto Rico, St Thomas, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Africa, Canada, as well as many places in the US- including Alaska and Hawaii. She enjoyed many trips with the Plus 60 group in the Quad Cities and with several good friends.

She was very proud of her children and grandchildren, and was a loving mother, grandmother, and great grandmother.

Gloria is preceded in death by her husband George, her parents, and her son Michael.

Gloria is survived by her daughter Sue (Tony) Patzkowsky, and her daughter in law Deb Malooly.  Her five grandchildren: Adam (Jackie) Malooly, Sara (Herb) Wilson, Matt (Jocelyn) Malooly, Jacob (Tasia) Malooly, and Katie (Chris) Bigott. Her nine great grandchildren: Peyton Wilson, Claira Malooly, Amelia Malooly, Samuel Malooly, Emma Malooly, Rhys Wilson, Anna Malooly, Calvin Bigott, and Emyrson Wilson.

A Memorial Mass will be held at St. Joseph Catholic Catholic Church, DeWitt, on Saturday, May 3, 2025, at 11:30 a.m. with visitation from 10:00 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.
Interment will be at Calvary Cemetery, Grand Mound.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be given to the Central Community Schools Education Fund and the DeWitt Community Library.

Arrangements are in the care of Schultz Funeral Home, DeWitt. Condolences may be expressed at www.schultzfuneralhomes.com

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