Gloria Mae Speiker entered eternal peace on August 26, 2018 at the age of 73.
She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, friend and teacher. A visitation will be held on Thursday, August 30, 2018 from 4:00 – 7:00 PM at Ballard-Sunder Funeral & Cremation (4565 Pleasant Street SE) in Prior Lake. Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday, August 31, 2018 at 10:30 AM with visitation one-hour prior at Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church in St. Paul. Father Patrick Hipwell will preside, and Gloria will be laid to rest at Credit River Cemetery in Prior Lake.
On March 12, 1945, Gloria was born to parents John Baptist and Lillian (Haider) Schmid. Gloria was the cutest baby; she had dark curly hair, chubby rosy cheeks, and big round soulful eyes. She grew up in Highland Park with her siblings Sue, John, Mary Ann and Kathy. As a girl, Gloria loved riding the bus to the Minnesota State Fair with her siblings and friends, playing Capture the Flag, attending dances and swimming at Highland Pool, Lake Nokomis, Turtle Lake and Lake Johanna. Gloria was very talented academically and graduated at the top of her class from Our Lady of Peace High School and was a member of National Honor Society and Phi Beta Kappa. Following high school, she attended St. Catherine University majoring in German and History with a teaching certificate and was also a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She would later earn her master’s in education.
As a young woman, Gloria met the love of her life at her sister Mary Ann’s wedding. When Chuck first saw Gloria, she had rollers in her hair and was in an old housecoat, but it was love at first sight. He knew instantly that she was the one for him. A few years later, they exchanged wedding vows at Nativity Catholic Church on June 10, 1967 and started out on a wonderful adventure together.
Chuck and Gloria were blessed with three wonderful children, Marc, Rebecca and Matthew. When their kids were young, they loved going camping. The Speikers took many memorable trips to places like Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, and the Schmid family cabin on Otter Tail Lake. They also enjoyed family trips to Canada. They would go fishing, play cards and other family games, and just hang out painting rocks (one of Gloria’s creative time-fillers on a rainy day). Gloria never cared where they were as long as they were together as a family. The love of family extended beyond the traditional boundaries – as Gloria always welcomed anyone to sit at the Thanksgiving table to have her famous stuffing and turkey gravy. Chuck and Gloria welcomed the growing family to include their children’s spouses, Jeff, Sasha, and Michelle, and 10 grandchildren as well as many other friends. Throughout the years, Gloria’s focus remained the same – love of family.
Both Chuck and Gloria worked in education, and their jobs brought them to many different communities. Over the years, they lived and worked in Michigan, Washington D.C., Nebraska and Minnesota. Gloria was a master teacher and taught many subjects during her 40-year career, including Chinese, but she was always most passionate about teaching German. She had such a creative way of teaching and helped her students not just learn the language but learn to love the language. She spent many late nights coming up with new and fresh lesson plans. While other teachers often recycled lesson plans year-over-year, Gloria did not. This was a testament to her commitment to her profession and passion for teaching. Throughout her career, Gloria took many students on memorable exchange trips to Germany and other parts of Europe. Gloria spent the last ten years of her teaching career building the German program at Prior Lake Schools.
Gloria loved to travel and always found adventure in life. In early life, she enjoyed spontaneous road trips with Chuck. The adventure of life continued as she went parasailing in Puerto Vallarta, hang-gliding in Rio de Janeiro, swimming with the dolphins in the Florida Keys, and blueberry picking with the brown bears in Northern Ontario.
Gloria had a love of trivia and was once a winner on the T.V. show Jeopardy. She also enjoyed playing the piano, reading and playing word games with her cousins, siblings and kids. She also loved to garden and bird watch.
Gloria was a generous and thoughtful woman. She will always be remembered for her kind heart, beaming smile, positive attitude and witty sense of humor. Gloria will be deeply missed by her husband of 51 years, Charles “Chuck” Speiker; daughter, Rebecca (Jeff) Bortolotti; son, Matthew (Sasha) Speiker; daughter-in-law, Michelle Speiker; grandchildren, MaKayla and MaKenzie Speiker, Alexander, Isabella and Samuel Bortolotti, Jack, Savanna, Sofia, Saige and Sienna Speiker; siblings, Susan (John) Morrison, John Schmid, Kathleen (James) Winkler; brother-in-law, Clyde Lindberg. Gloria was greeted in Heaven by her son, Marc Josef Speiker; parents, John and Lillian Schmid; her sister, Mary Ann Lindberg; and niece, Kate Schmid.
