Gloria Danette Fielding

Gloria Danette Davidson Fielding, aged 68, passed into eternal life at noon on Good Friday, April 15, 2022 in Thomasville, GA. She was surrounded by family and the amazing prayers and love of her friends. Gloria is survived by her husband Milton, daughter Lauren (John) Vann, son John (Lauren) Fielding and grandchildren, Molly, Cade, Brooks and Harper. She is also survived by her sister Yvonne (Dave) Spreadbury, brother Dan (Cathy) Davidson and many loved nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her mother Marion Davidson and father Ray Davidson as well as one niece.
Gloria was born on November 10, 1953 in the snowy town of Edmonton, Alberta. She grew up playing in the thick Canadian wilderness and loved to recount childhood memories made with neighborhood friends. She developed a passion for horses early-on. With her family's move to Didsbury, Alberta outside of Calgary, she became friends with a family that owned a farm and bought Trixie, a quarter horse cross who lived up to her name. Her childhood and teenage years were spent exploring many snowy paths or racing down fields, bareback on her horse. While her parents raised her in church, Gloria made a personal decision to accept Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior at an early age. She felt a very strong call on her life from an early age to be a missionary, and developed deep friendships in her church. Her teens were marked by a passion for sewing clothes, singing in the church's youth vocal team, playing pranks with friends and traveling to California on youth mission trips. Many wonderful family vacations also made this period of her life one she would recount for years.
On her graduation, Gloria pursued her calling with a degree from Mountain View Bible
College in Didsbury. A ministry impact during this time was accompanied by all the
unforgettable pranks that can be played in a college dorm-along with down to earth chores like gardening and plucking chickens that the ministry-minded college required in order to cut down costs for students. Upon her graduation, Gloria pursued a Bachelors in teaching from the University of Alberta in Edmonton. During this time, she remained active in ministry with Campus Crusade for Christ, Child Evangelism Fellowship and in-school ministries. She volunteered with special needs students for Bible studies in schools outside Toronto and then accepted a full-time teaching position as a first-grade teacher. Her work at that school was fondly remembered, but Gloria still had a passion for missions. It was this passion that drew her to a summer trip to Manaus, Brazil. Fortuitously, her mission group booked a riverboat piloted by Milton Fielding-her future husband. Gloria recalled meeting him for the first time after a 36 hour journey from Canada with many layovers and little sleep. But, as she said, it was passion at first sight. She had already made plans to stay over the summer in Manaus after the two-week trip. It was during this stay that she and Milton dated, became engaged and married in just a few months. Their marriage was blessed with two children-Lauren and then John-who Gloria made sure to include in all their work. Years later, the childhood memories of missions are still with us-riverboat excursions for church in the interior, long walks in the jungle and over swamps, falling asleep in hammocks with bats flying overhead. Gloria handled difficult work with grace. She led backyard Bible clubs and was never afraid to share her faith with friends. While it is naturally intimidating to broach spiritual topics, Gloria was never afraid to ask friends how they were doing, to pray with them or to visit them in an hour of need. As the Bible says, "perfect love drives out fear" and the perfect love of Christ could be seen in her gentle boldness.
Gloria and Milton moved back to the States when their children reached school age. There, she taught fifth grade at Cross Creek Elementary until she retired to home school her children through middle and high school. She will always be remembered for her integrity,her adventurous spirit, and her amazing gift for family vacations and road trips. She was the ultimate road warrior, driving her kids across the US and Canada. Gloria was also a faithful volunteer at church, leading children's church and starting a puppet ministry. Her interest in puppetry led her and Milton to donate resources and training for the church in Brazil. This early seed in puppetry led to a huge theatrical ministry that continues 20 years later. The ministry now reaches thousands every year. In addition to many shows, the Christmas show alone reaches over 130,000 people every December and is broadcast for free by the state government to the interior. Gloria's life demonstrates how an earnest, faithful investment into other people can grow into amazing things. Throughout her life, Gloria was noted for her artistic ability and her gift for creating beautiful dinners, birthday parties and holidays. She was also serious about the things of God and encouraged her children to follow their principles no matter the cost. She was a mother who did not institute rules, but rather helped her children develop their own faith and moral conscience. This led to an authentic, long lasting spiritual legacy that has passed to her grandchildren. She firmly believed that faith could not be dictated but had to be the personal choice of each individual.
Gloria loved biographies, HGTV shows, and cooking (many family recipes will be passed
down). She was a devoted grandmother who enjoyed picking out unique gifts for her
grandchildren and sewing. She was very proud of her children as well as her daughter in law Lauren McGuffin Fielding and son in law John Vann.
Gloria was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, sister, daughter, aunt, and friend, who
deeply loved her family, and her God, and savior Jesus Christ. She was blessed to have many loving friends, from all walks of her life, and will be missed by all who knew her, and experienced her love. Honorary pallbearers are John Fielding, John Vann, Dan Davidson, Dave Spreadbury, Clifton Fielding, and Vernon Fielding. A memorial service will be held at the chapel at Allen & Allen Funeral Home on Saturday, April 23, 2022, with the viewing at 10:00am and the memorial service at 11:00 am in the Chapel. All are invited to visit with the family at the Courtyard at Adele Creative downtown afterward. In lieu of flowers, donations are encouraged to the Mailbox Club ministry, Child Evangelism Fellowship or a children's charity of your choice.

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