What can I say about Gloria Hanlon that has not already been said. That she loved every child like they were her own, or that she most certainly saved my life in some way. I mean how could she not have? Always believing in me even when I could not believe in myself. All of that seems overdone, so instead let’s talk about how she was.

There was a joke going around part of the Black Belt class several years ago, after Ma’am had survived something that was almost 100% lethal. We used to say that Death would come knocking on her door every year and she would just tell him to go away, and that she was not ready yet. Even now I think we were right.

Knocking herself on the head? Don’t make her laugh Death, that wouldn’t do anything. Double pneumonia, nope, come back again. Dropping a tree on herself? Sorry, not going to slow her down. Infection to the heart? Doesn’t do much when a heart is as big as hers was. No, Death had to wait for her, and he had to wait for a long time.

It wasn’t just Death she didn’t listen to, I could repeat myself until I was blue in the face and still she’d insist on standing for the classes, had to be tough for the kiddies she’d say. I’d tell her the kids knew full well she was capable of sitting, but no matter what she’d be getting me to come pick her up and bring her to class.

The reason we learned so well was because she taught by example, the tenants of Tae Kwon Do shown through actions not words. Courtesy, Integrity, Self-control, Perseverance, and most importantly of all Indomitable Spirit. While Indomitable Spirit may not translate to “overwhelming amounts of stubbornness” in her case it certainly overlapped, and in fact they seemed to be one and the same.

Part of me will always wonder if she got me to pick her up because everyone else knew she was too stubborn to stay home and just would tell her they couldn’t come, hoping she’d rest instead, but just like clockwork I’d get a call, asking if I could pick her up for class. Even with her knee all busted up she still kept going, even those stitches they put in couldn’t stand up to her determination to stay on her feet till the very end.

When I dropped her off on Wednesday I didn’t know it would be the last time I’d see her, but I think that would be the way she’d want it. There was nothing about Gloria Hanlon that wasn’t strong, we all knew it, even if she felt like she had to show us what we already knew full well.

Ma’am never lost a match, and I don’t think this counts as a loss either. She lives on in every single one of her many children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, as well as every single one of her students. From her we learned how not to give up, and stubbornness like hers can never truly die.