Gloria Sperry

Born on October 28, 1928, at University Hospital in Augusta, Georgia, Gloria and her mother, Moselle Howard Lamar, were not expected to survive. Her father, Barney Dunbar Lamar, prayed for his wife, his newborn daughter, and their five little boys waiting across the Savannah River on the family farm in Beech Island, South Carolina. The family had hoped this baby would be a sister named Gloria, in thanksgiving to God. But now he wrote her name, “Moselle”. As she grew, her brothers called her “Sister,” while her mother and others called her “Gloria.” Gloria did not learn her legal name until a 1957 birth-certificate inquiry for a passport to move to Ethiopia.

In 2015, she legally changed her name, telling the judge “God wants me to honor both parents, and I am also thankful for my Lamar name from brave French Huguenots; so, let me be Gloria Moselle Lamar Sperry.” She told him about her great-uncles, L.Q.C. Lamar and Joseph R. Lamar, appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1888 and 1910. “Both followed Jesus, repented of their own sins, and, like Daniel in the Old Testament, asked God to forgive the “sins of their fathers” across generations. Both worked for justice, seeking to end racist laws and promote reconciliation between North and South.” Gloria and her husband, Harvey—as well as several of her brothers, her sister, and her sister’s husband—continued that work for justice and liberty for all God’s beloved children, teaching those values and setting a courageous example for their children.

Gloria was a frail child who was often ill, and her family was deeply affected by the Great Depression, which began in 1929. Even so, she treasured many happy memories: following her father at work, loving his animals from baby chicks to cows and hogs, sitting on her mother’s lap while she sang, being cared for and taught by her older brothers, and rejoicing when her own prayer for a little sister was answered five days before her fifth birthday. Gloria began first grade in a two-room schoolhouse in Beech Island. On her first day, when she could not print her name like the other children, her teacher challenged the shy girl: “Draw a rabbit then, since your mother is an artist!” Gloria spent the day carefully drawing a rabbit, beginning a lifelong love of sketching and painting the beauty she saw even in difficult times. Her brother Tom taught her to read, and she soon began teaching little Martha everything she learned at school—early training for one of her lifelong callings: teaching children. Through a military life of frequent moves, she taught her own three children, children in Sunday schools, and many others as a volunteer tutor; trusting that because her Good Shepherd, Jesus, cares for His little lambs, He would help them learn.

During the Great Depression, her parents moved for a time with their seven children to Savannah, Georgia, where her father and oldest brothers worked for the WPA and her artist mother ran a soup kitchen. Her mother was also commissioned by the WPA to paint a picture showing the reality of poverty: a young mother too weary to brush flies from her child’s eyes. Gloria would see the sad realities of poverty numerous times over her life, including during their 5 years in Ethiopian.

Back home in Beech Island, the Lamar family grew smaller and prayed harder as the five brothers were drafted into the Army or join the Navy during World War II. In the evenings, the sisters listened to President Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats with their father on his treasured radio. The family rejoiced when brother Calbreath—Cal—returned from France with the African American Army friend who had saved his life. Gloria wondered why the two men took pillows and blankets to sleep in the barn, but she later understood when Cal became actively involved in the new Civil Rights Movement. In high school, Gloria worked hard, loved reading, and began to sense that God wanted her to become a missionary like Lottie Moon, a missionary to China from 1873 to 1912. Gloria had a dream in which she married a missionary to China. After graduating in 1947, she was invited by her brother Barney, an Army officer teaching at Quartermaster School at Fort Lee, Virginia, to visit Petersburg. There she met Harvey Sperry, a University of Minnesota ROTC student attending six weeks of Quartermaster training. Harvey had recently returned from China, where he served as a Marine during World War II. He told Gloria about working with missionaries while stationed in China. They met on the Fourth of July and married on August 8, 1948, in Washington, D.C., before heading to Minneapolis to begin a wonderful and difficult life together that would include more than thirty moves. Gloria moved from Arlington Virginia to Knollwood Military Retirement Community in Northwest Washington, D.C., soon after Harvey’s death on April 6, 2014.

During Harvey’s Army career, their life of service included many assignments: Korea’s DMZ for Harvey while Gloria waited with little Deborah in South Carolina; then Fort Benning, Georgia, where son Jonathan was born; Army Language School in Monterey, California; Fort Belvoir, Virginia, where Joy was born; two postings in Asmara, Ethiopia; and Herzogenaurach, near Nürnberg, Germany. Everywhere they went, they devoted themselves to live out the words of the hymn, “We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations”.

In her final years, Gloria was cared for by nurses and caregivers from many nations. So finally, near the end of her life, instead of traveling to the nations, people from the nations came to her. She deeply valued their kindness, compassion, friendship, and devoted care, and many heard and shared the Gospel with her.

On Saturday, June 13, 2026, at 8:00 p.m., Gloria peacefully entered the presence of her Lord with her daughter Joy at her side. This was her final great move. Her dear younger sister Martha had preceded her in death on May 6. Just minutes before Gloria’s final “change of address” at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, she suddenly said to Joy, “Martha, have you moved here, too?” When Joy replied that she was Joy and that Martha was in heaven with Jesus, Gloria answered, “I want that too!”

Gloria’s story points beyond this world to the Lord Jesus, whom she trusted, and to the hope of eternal life found in Him.

After the memorial service at Knollwood, Gloria will be interred with Harvey at Arlington National Cemetery. A graveside service will be on August 5, 2026.

Burial Service and Reception for Gloria Sperry

Date: August 5, 2026 Time: 2:15 PM for 3:00 PM

Place: Arlington National Cemetery (1 Memorial Ave. Arlington VA 22211)

Entry Directions: At entrance tell security guard “We are here for SPERRY FUNERAL”

ID Scanning: At the second gate, REAL IDs will be scanned for everyone in the vehicle, or Student IDs for those under 16. Young children do not need an ID.

Driving Route: Follow a third guard’s direction to turn left onto Eisenhower Drive at the Military Womans’ Memorial then left on King Drive to the Administration Building. Do not park. The guard will direct you to line up in the designated SPERRY FUNERAL LANE.

Inside the Building: Ask for the designated SPERRY ROOM and RESTROOMS. After greeting the family, please return outdoors to greet other guests, as 10 people are allowed in the room.

After the burial: Fellowship and dinner at Dama Ethiopian Restaurant, 1505 Columbia Pike, Arlington VA 22204

Gloria’s immediate family surviving her include her daughter Deborah and husband Philip in University Park MD, grandson Caleb and wife Jordan in Houston TX with great grandchildren Josiah and Lydia; granddaughter Kelila in Falls Church VA and husband Brad with great-granddaughters Makayla and Kiara; son Jonathan and grandsons Jon and Jason in Takoma WA; daughter Joy in Arlington and granddaughter Danica and husband Robin with great-granddaughters Mila and Louve in San Pedro, CA. She is also survived by many nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews and their children and grandchildren that are spread throughout the nations. Gloria so appreciated the calls, cards and photos with news she received from many of them and prayed for her extended family daily along with her family of brothers and sisters in Christ.