It is with indescribable sadness that I share with you the knowledge that our Gloria Elizabeth Potter Alday entered her eternal sleep December 22, 2022, following a massive heart attack.
Gloria is the fifth daughter and sixth child of George Barnes Potter and Mary Elizabeth Johns Potter. She was born in Doctor Barnes’ Medical Clinic in Chattahoochee, Florida on the 17th of March 1949.
She attended secondary school in Chattahoochee, was active in sports and academic achievement programs. She was a junior varsity and varsity cheerleader. She was voted “Best All Around in her class” by her senior classmates. She was a true “Yellow Jacket,” graduating Chattahoochee High School with honors in 1967. She attended and graduated from Chipola Junior College in 1969. She attended Troy State University for her junior year, transferred to the University of West Florida in Pensacola for her senior year, and graduated with her teaching degree in Health, Physical Education and Recreation in 1971.
She left her first teaching job at Vanguard High School in Ocala, Florida to marry Chalmos Norton Alday of Sycamore on the 28th of December 1971. They would have celebrated their 51st anniversary just six days after her death.
Gloria accompanied her husband around the globe and across the United States during his 24-plus year United States Air Force military career. In every assignment location, her presence, involvements and achievements in community activities, volunteer organizations, the Sunday Schools and churches of their choice, and the schools of her employment created and left indelible chapters for others to emulate. Everyone who knew her fell in love with her. She served as a Certified Teacher of the Visually Impaired for the majority of her 33-year teaching career and was “the Go-To Gal” in that career field for the Northside Independent School District and state of Texas. She lived in San Antonio at the time of her death.
She is preceded in death by her parents, Barnes and Mary Potter, and three sisters, Eugenia, Jacqueline, and Jeanette.
Gloria is survived by her husband Norton, son Christopher (Kate) Alday (Stuttgart, Germany), daughter Elizabeth (Bob) Tala (San Antonio, TX), grandson Christopher Conner, granddaughter McKenna Alday (both of San Antonio, TX), sister Gwendy (John) Ford (Malone, FL), brother Eddie (Carol) Potter (Chattahoochee, FL), sister-in-law Karen Alday-Henderson (Sycamore, FL), and many nieces, nephews and cousins.
Gloria was loved by all who knew her. She was so highly regarded because that was the attitude and impression she exuded when she met people. She, above all, loved her God, her family, her mother, her siblings, her husband, her children and grandchildren above all others.
Please join us in the celebration of her life in the First Baptist Church in Chattahoochee on January 24, 2023, at 10:00 am for visitation with family, 11:00 am for celebration service and 2:00 pm for interment in the National Cemetery in Tallahassee.
The McAlpin Funeral Home of Sneads, FL (850) 593-9900 and (850) 209-3669 is in charge of funeral services.
