By Meghan Bowman
One More Time is a 3-part podcast dedicated to the life and passions of Gloria Jean Gill. She was a dancer, wife, daughter, choreographer, adjudicator, and St. Petersburg business owner.
More importantly, she is my mom.
In Act One we start at the funeral and begin planning a tribute tap class in her honor. In Act Two we look at Gloria Jean’s history in the dance industry. In Act Three we tie it all together and find out if we pulled the tap class off.
Act One
Meghan: When something happens, life doesn’t stop. But for me, time stood still Friday, August 25th, 2023. That’s the date Pastor Brian Hutchinson officiated my mom’s funeral.
Pastor Brian Hutchinson: Well, we’re here to honor Gloria today. The Lord was gracious and gave her 67 years upon this earth to be such a great blessing to her family and to many others.
Meghan: He never met my mom, only saw pictures of her and heard how my dad had described her. But that’s one thing I can’t stand about services like this. Good intentions are always there, but it can come off disingenuous when they talk about someone they’ve never met. But Pastor Brian, he got it. He understood the assignment. And I think in this instance, he nailed it.
Pastor Brian Hutchinson: Her passion was in dancing. In 1978, Gloria opened the Gloria Jean’s School of Dance. And she didn’t do this for gain, for profit, or anything for herself. She did this to be able to have her passion for what she loved be contagious to others around her. Gloria made an impact and changed lives.
Meghan: Gloria Jean’s School of Dance, the studio I grew up in. A place I and many others called home for 20 years. Where family vacations always seemed to coincide with a dance competition. Gloria Jean Gil was my mom. She never treated it like work, but she also didn’t treat it like a hobby — it was a way of life. The studio was a place where she taught more than dance. We learned important values about ourselves and other people. Like the importance of preparation, that there’s always time for one more time, that nothing great can happen if you don’t practice, And most importantly, you can do absolutely anything you set your mind to.
To see the rest of the transcript for Act One click here.
Act Two
Transcript:
Meghan: My mom died on a Thursday night. My sister Christi was driving in from Texas and was only 10 hours away. Once the nurse called the time of death, she asked us to leave the room to prepare her for the funeral home. So we all moved to the living room and had vodka cranberries. At least that’s what I had. I don’t know what they had, but I know we all had a drink. We just sat there in silence. We were in shock.
Then we waited for an hour for the funeral home to pick her up. It felt like so much longer. Every time I walked by the bedroom and saw her lying there. It was like she was sleeping. It wasn’t until the funeral home staff brought a stretcher inside and wheeled her out. After our goodbyes, they covered her face with the top of a black body bag and I finally crumbled.
The next morning, my husband and I headed back to Tampa, we drove in separate cars. I listened to a true crime podcast. For some reason, people dying there took my mind off the fact that my mom had just died. I couldn’t listen to music, a usual favorite of mine. Have you ever realized how many songs talk about mothers? An ungodly amount. Once we got home, we had to share the news with my kids. I didn’t share what I told you, but I did tell them in one week’s time we’d be burying her.
My six-year-old Oliver had the sweetest response. One of those moments where you can see death through a child’s eyes and it somehow makes it okay. Last year we lost our 17-year-old dog Jaxx. He was as much a part of the family as any human is. My parents even loved the dog. Oliver looked up at me and it was like a light bulb went off above his head. He said, “It’s okay Mom. Grandma can take Jaxx outside now. They’ll be together!”
I laughed, cried and I just hugged him because it’s true. Now she and Jaxx can hang out.
To see the rest of the transcript for Act Two click here.
Act Three
Transcript:
Meghan: When I was a freshman in high school, I was always late. In fact, I even won a special award that said I’d be late to my own funeral.
One morning before school in September of 1999, I was running late as usual and ended up missing the bus. My mom had to drive me to school. A few hours into my day, I was called into the front office. The vice principal and guidance counselor met me at the front desk. I was confused. My initial thought was what did I do? But then they told me my mom had been in a car accident. And it was bad. And she was at the hospital.
After she dropped me off at school late, she decided to head to the studio. While sitting at a stoplight, a man on his cell phone was not paying attention and ran into the back of her going almost 55 miles an hour. She said she heard the screeching of him trying to brake but there was nowhere for her to go. Before the crash, she had just enough time to pull the emergency brake and grab her head to try and protect her neck — which caused her lower back to bulge out. The impact of the crash caused a small explosion in her thoracic back. This accident is something I’ve struggled with for many years.
For a long time, I blamed myself for her accident. My thought was that if I had been on time, she wouldn’t have been there. She wouldn’t have gotten hit. None of this would have happened. And she’d probably still be here with us today. I am 15 minutes early to everything now.
To see the rest of the transcript for Act Three click here.
