Gloria Calhoun

Dr. Gloria Ann Weber Calhoun, age 86, passed away at Galleria Woods Senior Living Community in Birmingham, AL on June 22, 2024.

Gloria was born on August 27, 1937, in Lexington, Nebraska, to Arthur Ernst Weber and Elizabeth Martha Roth Weber. She and her sister, Margaret Weber Wicklund, were raised in Nebraska until the end of World War II in 1945. The family then moved to Delray Beach in Florida. Gloria graduated with a Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing from the University of Florida in 1960. After marrying and having three children, she earned her master's degree in Nursing from Vanderbilt University in 1971 and a PhD in Nursing from the University of Alabama in Birmingham in 1985. While at Vanderbilt, she created the Nursing Administration Graduate program and served as its director.

During her career, Gloria consulted for groups such as Eastman Kodak, Alive Hospice, HCA Parthenon Pavilion, the YWCA, and the Nashville Board of Realtors. Her extensive professional career included working as a therapist in private practice of Psychotherapy and Management in Huntsville, AL for 10 years, serving as Chief Nurse at the Dede Wallace Mental Health Center in Nashville, and Associate Director of Nursing Education at Motlow State Community College in Tullahoma, TN. She was also a Mental Health consultant and Nurse Supervisor for the Multi-County Mental Health Center in Tullahoma. Earlier in her career, she was an instructor at the Bellevue School of Nursing in New York, NY, and a Labor and Delivery ICU nurse at the College of Nursing in Gainesville, Florida.

Her clinical and grant funding research were numerous. While at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, she received the distinguished Sara K. Archer Award. She was a member of the Planned Parenthood of Nashville Board of Directors, a Board of Trustee for the Tennessee Nurses Political Action Committee, a board member for the Nashville Psychotherapy Institute, and a director of the American Nurses Association.

Dr. Calhoun's publications include "View from the Top: Managing Recruitment and Retention," "The Nurse as the Therapist," and "Management Motivation and Conflict." Her accomplishments also include extensive civic, conference, and workshop presentations, many on the national level.

Dr. Calhoun's hobbies included her love of worldwide travel, many trips with her children and grandchildren, and her love of ballroom and swing dancing. She was also active in the fundraising efforts for the Foundation Fighting Blindness and Choroideremia Foundation.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Arthur Ernst Weber and Elizabeth Martha Roth Weber. She is survived by her sister, Margaret Weber Wicklund; children Elizabeth Calhoun Redman (Mike) of Huntsville, AL, Caroline Calhoun Looney (Ben) of Birmingham, AL, and Daniel Stanton Calhoun (Nancy) of Brentwood, TN; and grandchildren, William Benjamin Looney, Jr. of Houston, TX, Ellen Looney Ewing (Cameron) of Birmingham, AL; Daniel Adams Calhoun of Denver, CO; Sarah Ashby Calhoun of Nashville, TN; Samuel Calhoun Looney of Pensacola, FL; and Michael Bruce Redman, Jr. of Mobile, AL.

Funeral arrangements will be Friday, July 19 at Brentwood United Methodist Church in Brentwood, TN. Visitation will be from 10 -11:00 a.m., followed by a private celebration of life for family.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Choroideremia Research Foundation, curechm.org, 23 E Brundreth St, Springfield, MA 01109, Planned Parenthood of Nashville, plannedparenthood.org; 412 Dr. D.B. Todd Jr. Blvd. Nashville, TN 37203, or the Elephants' Sanctuary, elephants.com, P.O. Box 393, Hohenwald, TN 38462.