Mrs. Gloria Burson Petkas

Mrs. Gloria Burson Petkas passed away at her home on Thursday, January 19, 2023. Gloria was preceded in death by her father Brooks, her mother Mildred, her brother William, and her husband Nicholas. She is survived by her sister Caroline, sons Steven, James and Daniel, daughter Penelope, and grandchildren Jonathan, Brennan, Brooke, Kailee, and Theodore.

Born and raised in Thomaston, Georgia, Gloria’s and Nicholas’ medical careers took their family to homes in Atlanta, Georgia, Richmond, Virginia, Southern Pines, North Carolina, and West Palm Beach, Florida before their arrival in Jupiter in 1963. Gloria made her home in the Jupiter Inlet Colony for sixty years and was among its longest-lived residents.

Possessing a limitless combination of compassion and discipline, Gloria’s investments in family and the profession of nursing came naturally. To the latter she devoted herself in a career that began as an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta in 1951 and culminated in her role as Emergency Room Coordinator at Martin Memorial Hospital in Stuart, from which she retired in 1989. That commitment alternated with her loving devotion as a mother, raising four willful children, her surrogate motherhood to numerous other children in the Jupiter Inlet Colony, and subsequent to her retirement, providing “Nana daycare” to a succession of grandchildren.

Gloria’s passions included tennis, piano, opera, and joining with dear friends for bridge, and hand and foot card games. Her enormous heart made room in her home for a number of birds, cats and dogs, many of which came to her as cast-offs from previous owners, each loved and cared for unconditionally.

Graveside funeral services will be held Saturday, January 28, at 3:00 PM, at South View Cemetery with Rev. Ted Kandler officiating. The family of Mrs. Petkas will receive friends on Saturday, January 28, from 12:30 PM until 2:30 PM at Fletcher-Day Funeral Home.

Fletcher-Day Funeral Home of Thomaston, Georgia is in charge of all local arrangements. Condolences and remembrances may be expressed at www.fletcherdayfuneralhome.com.