Gwendolyn Louise Glasser
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Gwendolyn Louise Glasser left this world after a mercifully short battle with cancer. Remaining at home allowed her family to be with her throughout, talking with her and holding her hands until the end.
Born in Donora, September 14, 1930, Gwendolyn Louise Helen Chiprich attended local schools and the University of Pittsburgh.
She married William “Bill” (or as she often called him, “Skip”) Glasser in 1950. During their 67 years of marriage, their peripatetic life took them to Baltimore, Md., Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, N.Y., Richmond, Va. and Atlanta, Ga., before returning to Richmond, Va., for their retirement. Despite all the moving, she recently confided that Donora, her place of birth, remained her most cherished place to live. Once retired in Richmond, she joined Hermitage Country Club and then Richmond Country Club, so she could pursue her avid interest in golf, which she shared with her husband. She also reconnected with her favorite Bridge club to rejoin friends she first started playing with 30 years earlier.
She was an active volunteer at several community service organizations such as Meals on Wheels and at election polling stations. She once worked extensively for Friends of 23 (the local PBS station) in fundraising, where she got the group incorporated and was elected the first president of the organization. She used her crafting skills to provide knitted articles to those in need through From the Heart organization and shared her exceptional administrative talents to help coordinate programming and activities for the Saints and Sinners group at St. Bridget Catholic Church and the women’s TriClub organization. In the words of her granddaughter, Rachel, she was “a strong, smart, creative and poised woman who [had] an unwavering love for her children and family.”
The family mourning her includes her husband, Bill; children Marsha Rehkamp and husband Tom, Mark, Susan and Scott; her grandchildren, Jennifer Rehkamp, Rachel Kupillas and husband Kevin and Eli Glasser; great-grandchildren Conrad and Mila Kupillas and Quinn Thompson; several intimate family friends, including Brian Thompson, Frank McWeeny and Marian Tress; and numerous nieces and nephews scattered around the country.
A Funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m Saturday, February 3, in St. Bridget Catholic Church, 6006 Three Chopt Road, Richmond, Va. 23226, followed by a brief reception from noon to 1 p.m. in the Church Commons. The interment of ashes will be a private family service. Following a brief period of mourning, the family would like to invite her friends to a celebration of her life. If you would like details of this celebration, please contact sglasser@swg.net. In lieu of flowers, the family asks those interested to consider a contribution to the angels at Bon Secours Hospice Foundation who supported her so graciously in her last days. Condolences may be offered at woodyfuneralhomeparham.com.