Gloria was outrageous in a good way.

She was colorful and commanded attention no matter where she was. That was her trademark, but as I learned, not her defining attribute.

Gloria Walker was a foster grandparent who for many years was known as Grandma Gloria to kids at Wickes School. She and school principal Roy Costa were well matched. Both stood out as live, high-energy wires. Roy, who loves anything Disney but especially Mickey Mouse, wore ties featuring Disney cartoon characters. Not surprisingly, Mickey and his friends inhabited his office.

If only in my elementary school there had there been a principal who loved cartoon characters, I wouldn’t have dreaded being called into the principal’s office.

Wickes School is no longer. Single family homes are sprouting from the property. Roy has retired. Gloria died March 18 at the age of 97.

Yet there’s no forgetting Grandma Gloria or what she brought to Warwick schools and the larger community. Indeed, part of it is a person who didn’t hide her unabashed passion for life and sharing.

She was bold, upbeat and flamboyant. She drove a bright orange car. I don’t remember the make, but it was small and just to be sure she could be seen – also a reflection of her personality – sported a large plastic sunflower wired to the antenna. Her attire was equally as loud, with red or orange being the dominant colors. Her blond hair was springy and her lipstick was always carefully applied. Her eyes danced. Gloria would stop by the office on Halloween, Valentine’s Day and always on St. Patrick’s Day – appropriately dressed for the occasion – with a card and a report from Wickes.

Over the years I learned more and more about Gloria. She was friends with baseball legend Ted Williams, which made for an interesting interview with insights to the man who loved fishing and shied from crowds and the limelight. In the spring of 2015, Gloria stopped in to let me know that Karen Bernstein, a niece of renowned composer Leonard Bernstein, was working on a film about her son, Brian Belovitch. They would be filming at her Matthew 25 apartment. She knew I would want to see what this was all about. I got to meet Brian and hear how he met Gloria. He told the story again at her memorial service May 25 at St. Paul Lutheran Church.

The story goes back to 1972, when Paul, Gloria’s biological son [now deceased] and Brian, both 16, met in a gay bar in Providence. The two hit it off, and when it came to closing time Paul asked Brian where he was going to spend the night. Brian’s parents had kicked him out. He had no place to go. Paul told Brian to come home with him and then told Gloria when they arrived that night that Brian would be staying with them. He became a member of the family.

“She lived with an open heart … [her] generosity of spirit was truly unmatched,” Brian said. He said the strength of their friendship enabled him to face any challenge.

James Russell, who also spoke at Gloria’s service, said he had not met an active senior until Gloria. He spoke of her cards and holiday celebrations.

Gloria’s nephew, Scott Carlson, recalled her feisty, even defiant, nature.

“She hit it off with anybody she met,” he said. There was no discrimination of age, color or ethnicity, or reservation in expressing her opinion.

When it came to politics, “It was Trumpy Dumpy,” said Scott.

And then there was the occasion in a packed restaurant where the music resonated with Gloria. Paying no attention to what people would think, she stood up and danced and danced. On another occasion, Gloria, who was a flirt, told Scott she wanted to meet a young man she had spotted across the room. Scott told her the man was a priest. Gloria’s answer: “I don’t care.”

Scott was a frequent visitor during Gloria’s final days. A priest had been summoned and was giving her last rites when she sat up and told him to “shut up.”

I can see her, frail and fading, yet with that pure spark of life that she generously shared with so many.