Obituary for Gloria Nainoa
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Gloria Jean Nainoa, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, and aunt, passed away peacefully at her home, surrounded by her family, on the evening of Saturday, November 24, 2018. She was 72 years old.
Gloria was born in Los Angeles, California on July 24, 1946 to Mary Isabel Contreras (Juanita Malone) and Leo Riboni. She was the first of 11 children and she would go on to help care for her ten brothers and sisters: Margo, Richard, Raul, Yolanda, Mario, Raymond, Carlos, Jimmy, Irma, and Sandra. The family grew up in the South Bay area of Los Angeles where Gloria was not only a loving daughter and sister, but an excellent student and avid reader. She attended Aviation High School and then received a full scholarship to UCLA, which she attended after she graduated.
Before she was able to earn her degree, she met the love of her life, her future husband of 50 years, Sam K. Nainoa. They married and had two children, Sam K. Nainoa III, born on April 28, 1967, and Felicia Nainoa (Ptolemy), born on February 27, 1972. Then, as a working mother of two, Gloria continued her college education and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Long Beach State University and later her Master’s Degree in Education from National University. She had a 35 year career as a bilingual teacher and educator in Los Angeles,Ventura, and Orange Counties, finishing her professional journey as an elementary school principal in Santa Ana, California. Her legacy was education.
As Gloria was an academic at heart, she enjoyed traveling and reading, as well as intellectual games like Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble, Jeopardy and of course Uno with her grandchildren! Her favorite destination with her family was Hawaii, but she also loved New York, Texas, Seattle and Portland. Gloria and Sam’s travels also took them to international destinations in Mexico, Asia and European cities such as Rome, Paris, and London. She had eclectic taste and loved many genres of music and in her travels she always made a point to seek out the opinion of locals to find the best music and artists in the region.
Though Gloria and Sam had a full and busy life, they remained firmly committed to their Catholic faith and were active in the church as Eucharistic ministers. Gloria was also involved in several ministries, including prayer groups, women’s groups and teaching catechism to young people. Later in her life, she was happy she had the opportunity to meet her four additional Riboni brothers, Charlie, Ferdinando, Leo, and Ubaldo.
Gloria is survived by her husband, Sam (Sonny), her children, Sammy and Felicia, her son-in-law, Barry, her grandchildren, Jacob and Lauren, her brothers, sisters, god-children, and many nieces and nephews. We will keep her close to our hearts always and strive to live our lives with the same love, compassion, and reason she exemplified.
Gloria, Mom, Grandma, Honey…may you rest in eternal peace, te amo mucho and aloha, until we meet again.