Gloria Delores Levy Davis passed away peacefully at age 89 on February 19, 2025, at the Grand Rehabilitation Nursing in Great Neck, NY.
Gloria was born Mary Catherine Levy on May 3, 1935, in Mayesville, SC as the first child and only daughter of her father, Augustus Ceaser Levy and mother, Maudelle Carolina. At some point, her father preferred the name Gloria, and it stuck so well that even her own children didn’t discover her true birth name until 1999. Gloria’s birth was followed by 2 brothers, Ceasar Augustus called ‘Brother’ and Rudolph Valentino called ‘Rudy’ until adulthood when he changed his name to Bobby. Name changing was clearly a thing in the Levy household.
Gloria complete elementary and high school in South Carolina, then enrolled in Harbison Junior College in Irmo, SC followed by 2 more years at Barber Scotia College in Concord, NC where she majored in childhood education. In 1956 after college, Gloria joined her family now relocated to NY and was introduced to the man who would become her husband, Elijah McCloud, from Waynesboro, GA. Gloria and Elijah married in 1957 in the family house at 231 Decatur Street in Brooklyn. The following year, they welcomed their first and only child, Sharon Renee McCloud (Dean.) Shortly thereafter, that union came to an end and Gloria started employment as an assistant in a doctor’s office. In Brooklyn, Gloria enjoyed going to and giving parties, dancing, and singing to her cousin’s piano playing for family gatherings. Most memorable were her father’s special requests: ‘Only God Can Make a Tree’ and ‘Danny Boy’ along with one of her favorites, ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’. Gloria was also a member of Siloam Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn.
Soon she would begin her second and final marriage to Arnold Bennett Davis from Wise, NC. Gloria and Arnold started their first home in Brooklyn, NY where she would welcome her first son Antoine Bennett Davis in 1965. Then the couple, with 7-year-old daughter Sharon and 1-year-old son Antoine, moved to their first house at 50 Margaret Drive, Roosevelt, NY in the summer of 1966. There she would welcome her second son, Sean Davis, in 1975.
The years in Roosevelt brought out the best in Gloria, who was an excellent homemaker and dedicated young mother, shepherding Antoine and Sharon to hockey lessons, piano lessons, and many after-school activities. Then watching Sean’s embrace of this new technology called ‘the computer’. An excellent time manager, dinners were served at 6 o’clock on the dot, every day of every year. Although a dutiful mother, Gloria made sure she took time for herself through avid daily reading at her favorite spot on the couch at the living room window, occasionally playing the piano. Second, only to reading, Gloria loved listening, dancing, and singing to the recordings of her favorite R&B and jazz artists.
Gloria was sufficiently traditional where it counted, but was more of a progressive, modern type of woman. Cordial but reserved, quick to laugh but slow to anger, a thinker more than a talker except when the topics were artists, actors, musicians…and Hollywood scandals and gossip. Yes, Gloria was still waters running deep. But there was also a bubbly side that only music brought to the surface, and to experience that is the everlasting gift she shared with each of her children and those whom she cared about. Gloria was here, she lived, and she will never be forgotten.
Gloria is survived by her daughter, Sharon Renée McCloud Davis Dean (husband, Dwayne Dean), her son Antoine Bennett Davis (wife, Doris Bailey Davis and daughters, Adaysia Iyanna Davis and Ashé Amina Davis.) In 2014, Gloria was preceded in death by her youngest son, Sean Davis. Gloria is also survived by her nieces Sylvia Denice Levy, Lisa Levy, and Desiree Levy, her nephew Rodney Keith Levy (wife Yorel Del Pratt Levy and sons Lance Keith Levy and Kevin Emil Levy.)
The family extends its deepest gratitude to the doctors, nurses, and caretakers of The Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing at Great Neck and to the many friends, neighbors, and loved ones who shared this life journey with Gloria and supported us when we needed it the most.
