Gloria (Ricker) Gramaglia

SALISBURY — Gloria (Ricker) Gramaglia, 83, of Salisbury, died unexpectedly on April 5, 2020, at Sharon Hospital following a stroke. 

She was the widow of Ron Gramaglia and the loving mother of Mary, Clare, Thomas, William and Charles.

Born Gloria Susanne Ricker in Lewiston, Maine, on June 19, 1936, to Charles W. Ricker and Gertrude O’Brien, she was raised in Poland Spring, Maine. She graduated from St. Joseph’s Academy in Portland and Regis College in Weston, Mass., and in 1957 earned a graduate degree in Dietetics and Nutrition from Tufts University.  

In August 1959 Gloria married Ron, whom she met on the beach in Fort Lauderdale during spring break 1956. They settled in suburban New York and raised five children, and Gloria returned to work as soon as their youngest entered school. 

She taught classes in nutrition at several Westchester County colleges and worked at Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville and for the New York State Department of Health. In 1986 Gloria and Ron moved to Morristown, N.J., where they lived for a dozen years before retiring to Windham, Maine, where Gloria became an active hospice volunteer.  

In 2018, following her husband’s death, Gloria moved to Salisbury, where she became an active participant at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church and volunteered at Noble Horizons as a compassionate listener.

 A true Mainer despite many years living outside the state, Gloria personified independence, resilience and Yankee frugality. She never lost the Maine accent of which she was very proud, and she was an avid reader, gardener, and baker of apple pies.

Gloria is survived by five children and their spouses,  Mary Gramaglia and Luis Lizarralde of McLean, Va., Clare Rashkoff, of Lakeville, Thomas Gramaglia and Margaret Leeson of Concord, Mass., William and Marni Gramaglia of Milford, Pa., and Charles Gramaglia and Lesley Duncombe of Kensington, Md.  She will be sorely missed by her 11 grandchildren, Nicolas and Thomas Lizarralde, Daniel, Adam, Noah and Rebecca Rashkoff, Abigail, Peter and Silas Gramaglia and Alexandra and Stephanie Gramaglia. She is also survived by a great-granddaughter, Rosa Baltner, daughter of grandson Adam and his wife, Maike Baltner; and three siblings with whom she was very close, Angela Ricker of Beverly Hills, Fla., Lucy Sheehan of Norwell, Mass., and Charles Ricker of Verona, Wis.

Gloria was laid to rest in the Ricker family cemetery in Poland Spring on Good Friday, April 10, her husband’s birthday. 

The Kenny Funeral Home in Sharon was in charge of arrangements. A memorial service and celebration of Gloria’s life will be held later this year. Her family would appreciate contributions in her memory to the Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance Squad.