Gloria Hobson was born in Birmingham, Alabama and attended segregated schools until she graduated from high school. Her mother was a teacher and took Gloria to school with her when Gloria was four years old. Thus, Gloria graduated from high school when she was sixteen, in 1963.

The early 1960s were turbulent times in America, especially regarding civil rights - and most noticeably in the South. The University of Alabama was not integrated and James Meredith had just broken the color barrier under armed guard. One of the four young black girls killed by a bomb while attending church was Gloria's neighbor.

Given these circumstances, Gloria's parents would not allow her to attend the University of Alabama. It was simply too dangerous. Instead, she attended Xavier University in New Orleans, one of the historically black colleges and universities in America. There she graduated with a double major in business administration and secretarial studies.

Gloria had married during her senior year of college. Her husband had already graduated and was living in Chicago. Gloria moved to Chicago immediately upon graduation and went to work for the Federal Government. Although she was soon pregnant, her marriage was not working out. Finally, in 1968, she filed for divorce.

Gloria needed a place to stay and her attorney was trying to sub-lease his apartment. Gloria applied and was rejected because she was a single parent with an infant and because she was black. Gloria was ready to look for another apartment. After all, segregation and discrimination were constant companions in her life. Her attorney's cousin was a law student at the time and was outraged that Gloria had been turned down for the apartment. He wanted to file suit, but Gloria was not so eager. Finally, she agreed and Smith versus Adler was filed. (Gloria's original married name was Smith.) Smith v. Adler became a landmark case in housing discrimination law. It established that, no matter how valid other reasons may be, if any discrimination takes place, then the action is illegal. The primary law used for this case was the Civil Rights Act of 1868 - the Civil Rights Act of 1968 had just been passed and was still being sorted out in terms of legal meanings. It is noteworthy that Gloria lost the case in the district court (where the judge was from Alabama) and only won on appeal to the Federal Appeals Court.

Coincidentally, Gloria was at this time working for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in their Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity division. She had found her calling there as an equal opportunity investigator. She was thorough and meticulous in her investigations and developed a well-deserved reputation as an investigator. She also developed a well-deserved reputation for fairness. Some investigators approached complaints with the assumption that discrimination had taken place and their job was to prove it. Gloria was not like that. She approached each case on its merits. Much more frequently than not, she found there had been discrimination - a sad state of affairs that persists to this day. What is important is that she never assumed she would find discrimination. She looked for facts and patterns and clear evidence.

She rarely acknowledged that she had been the plaintiff in a landmark civil rights case. She was no longer named Smith by this time and she wanted her work judged by her efforts, not by an historical artifact. She was so quiet about the case that her cousin, an attorney, did not know she was the Smith in Smith v. Adler until after she died. This is also the case for her co-workers and subordinates. At a national conference in Atlanta in the late 1990's, an attorney was lecturing on landmark cases and, of course, discussed Smith v. Adler. During the break, Gloria approached him and said he had a few of the facts incorrect. He asked how she would know that and she replied that she was "Smith." The first time most of Gloria's colleagues knew she was involved in a landmark case was when he informed the group of his errors after the break.

Gloria achieved success as measured by professional progress. She was promoted from investigator to Director of Contract Compliance. She then became a branch chief in charge of Title VI complaints. She also served as the supervisor of Fair Housing Assistance Programs and as Special Assistant to the Regional Director. But her first love was investigations and she was without peer in her thoroughness and tenacity - and her expectations for the same kind of results from her subordinates.

Gloria believed in fairness and equity. She had first-hand experience with discrimination and segregation. And she had experienced the discrimination from both black and white persons. A few years after her divorce, she married a white man. Several of her colleagues in the civil rights community felt she had betrayed "the cause" with this action. Gloria felt the marriage was neutral. She was not trying to make a social statement with her marriage. But neither was she willing to reject a person simply because he was a different color. Gloria was seen as a black woman. What she wanted was to be seen as a person; not a black person or a female person - just a person. And that is what she wanted for everyone else.

Gloria was the finest type of public servant there is. Despite how she was treated in society (and even at work), she never abandoned the goal of fair and equitable treatment. She was dedicated to doing her best to improve social equity. That meant getting her finger nails very dirty in the effort to keep the soil rich and the weeds away. That meant working long hours on behalf of all of her flowers and plants because she valued every flower and plant. Gloria recognized that everyone has a role in social equity and she was willing to do whatever was necessary to allow - and to prod - those roles to be fulfilled. Gloria was a faithful gardener. Because of her dedication, tenacity and skill there are better opportunities for all of us.