Gloria Elena Graham

1946 - 2023

Gloria Elena Saldaña Graham was born to Enrique J. Saldaña and Gloria Lerma Saldaña in Brownsville, Texas, on July 26, 1946, the eldest of their four children. Gloria attended Incarnate Word Academy and Villa Maria High School before graduating Brownsville High School in 1964. The following year, Gloria married her high school sweetheart, and their son, Nem Jennings Bryan, IV was born. The young couple moved to Houston where Gloria was later employed with Cayman International Exploration and Davis Oil.

In 1978, Gloria married Jim Graham, and settled into life with a teenager in the quiet Houston suburb of Katy, Texas. Over her nearly 40 years on Sancroft Court, Gloria hosted oodles of teenagers, treated neighbors like family, sent her only son off to college, experienced the sudden passing of her beloved Jim, welcomed becoming "Nani" to her grandsons, and served as an administrative assistant for the University of Houston Cinco Ranch, before her retirement in 2016. Gloria always made everyone feel at home, typically with beans and rice on the stove, with either Killer, Pudgy, or Hannah at her heels.

Gloria courageously battled the progressively insufferable effects of Parkinson's for seven years and was most recently cared for by the gentle hands at Hill Country Nursing and Rehab in Dripping Springs, Texas, where she died peacefully on July 22, 2023.

Gloria was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Jim Holland Graham, Jr. (Sgt. USMC); nephew, Michael Edward Saldaña, and former husband, Nem Jennings Bryan, III.

Gloria is survived by her son, Nem J. Bryan, IV (Kinnison) and grandsons, Colton, Chance, and Casen Bryan, all of Dripping Springs, Texas; siblings, Enrique J. Saldaña, Jr. (Sara) of McAllen, Texas, Yolanda Saldaña Garcia (Robert) of Hurst, Texas, and Miguel A. Saldaña (Cindy) of Rancho Viejo, Texas. Gloria will be missed by numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, and extended family.

Family and friends are invited to gather at St. Martin De Porres Catholic Church in Dripping Springs on Saturday, August 12, 2023, at 9:30 a.m. for a recitation of the Holy Rosary, immediately followed by a Funeral Mass. The Rite of Committal and interment will be held privately at Houston National Cemetery.

Funeral services are under the direction of Harrell Funeral Home, 100 Heritage Drive, Austin, Texas 78737, (512) 382-6543.

In lieu of flowers, Gloria's family has requested that remembrances be made in the form of contributions to the Parkinson's Foundation at www.parkinson.org.