Obituary of Gloria Bauer

Gloria Bauer passed gently across the threshold into Eternity on August 30, 2012, at the ICU of Stanford Hospital, where she bravely suffered and recovered from a major surgery of the sternum after a serious car accident brought her there on July 26. Occasionally her unique sense of humor brightened the critical situation during those five weeks at ICU. However, her very weak heart was unable to cope with the multiple injuries. The presence of the Maryknoll priests , the Dominican Sisters of Oakford and that of her closest friends supported her during those long days of hoping and waiting. Having no family in California, Gloria was blessed with the joy of having a niece with husband from Germany visiting her at Stanford and being family for her and she died in their loving presence. Gloria was born in February 1930 in Baldwin, Long Island, New York as the only daughter of her parents Mr. and Mrs. William Bauer. She had an older brother. Strongly rooted in the Catholic faith, Gloria had her elementary education in a Catholic School in Baldwin , New York and her high school education with the Dominican Sisters at St. Agnes Academic School at Rockville Centre, New York, where she graduated as a very bright student in 1948. Her tertiary studies took place at Adelphi College, Garden City, Long Island, New York where she graduated with a BA Degree in Mathematics, June 1951. She also participated in a Master's Program at the University of California at Berkeley, where she completed courses in Chemistry, Casting and Forming processes. Since graduation she worked solely for the Large Steam Turbine-Generator Department of the General Electric Company at Schenectady, New York. While there she also completed courses in Turbine Design, Advanced Numerical Analysis, Fluid Mechanics, Fundamentals of Stored program Computers. She invested wholeheartedly in her professional carrier, felt at home and held her own in the predominantly male work environment. Gloria loved the challenge of responsibility, precision and opportunity for growth. After the death of her father she and her mother moved to California , in pursuit of further opportunity for advancement . She has lived in Los Altos since 1974 and worked at General Electric and IBM for years. Besides her professional world she has invested generously in charitable works within and beyond the church. She herself lived a very simple, frugal lifestyle and was very private about her financial support of various Charities in the US and overseas missions. For 20 years to the present she has been serving on the Villa Foundation Board of the Villa Siena Residential Care and Nursing Facility for Seniors in Mountain View. Gloria has been a faithful parishioner of St. William's Catholic Parish in Los Altos. During her active years she loved the experience of overseas travel to be enriched by other cultures. Her favorite sports were golf, swimming and hiking. Among her hobbies she counted oil painting, sculpture, reading, sewing, photography . She enjoyed gardening and growing vegetables. It gave her great joy to share the harvest of her diverse fruit trees with local charities. When her fragile health confined her more and more to her home, she treasured visitors and the companionship of her dog and cats. May she reap the reward of her deep fidelity to God and his poor, and live into the fullness of Life, Love and Joy in heaven!




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