Gloria Ann Hilsinger

Gloria A. Hilsinger (Glorianne), 82, of Shippensburg, departed this life on the afternoon of Thursday, November 5, 2026, at the Thornwald Home, Carlisle.

She was born on November 5, 1944, in Carlisle, the daughter of the late Warren E. “Tom” and Helen B. (Brannan) Houp. Gloria was a 1962 graduate of Big Spring High School and earned a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Washington in 1980. She married George R. Hilsinger on August 17, 1985 at the Houp family home on Big Pond near Walnut Bottom

Gloria’s career was devoted to public health and nursing education. She began her career in public health in the City of Baltimore and then moved on to the State Alaska where she served the Wrangell area in Southeast Alaska. After two years there, she headed south to Seatt/e to pursue her master’s degree and become a Family Nurse Practitioner. Finishing her course work in 1977, she put it to practical use working for three years in a Migrant Clinic in Wenatchee, Wa., where she completed her thesis in 1980. With he degree and FNP certification, she headed North again to Bethel, AK. Where she spent three years serving a collection of native Yupik (Eskimo) villages in the Yukon-Kuskowim Delta. In early 1984 she moved South to Tumwater, WA where she went to work for the Washington State Dept of Health as a Public Health Nursing Consultant and also worked with the University of Washington. After her marriage to George, she joined him in Yakima, WA where she continued her work with the Dept.of Health and the University of Washington. During her 24 years in Yakima she worked as adjunct faculty for a Gonzaga University master”s degree program and taught undergraduate nursing students for Washington State University. In 1999 the Washington Legislature recognized a serious deficiency in school nursing in small rural school districts and created a statewide School Nursing Corps which was added to the nine regional Education Service Districts in Washington. Gloria became the SNC Administrator for ESD 105 in Yakima where she and her staff supported the small rural school districts in south central Washington.During her tenure she was recognized as School Nurse Administrator of the year by the School Nurse Organization of Washington and the National Association of School Nurses,being honored at the NASN convention in Boston,MA. She retired in September 2009 and moved with George to her family home in Pennsylvania.

In her free time she enjoyed gardening, her book club, helping with meals for the fire company and church, and meeting with her women’s group.

In addition to her husband of forty-one years, George, she is survived by her nieces Suzanne E. Eshelman of Shippensburg, and Jennifer Strouse of Quakerstown, and her nephew Jeremy J. Houp and his wife Molly of Waxhaw, NC., and three grand-nephews, three grand-nieces, and three great-grand-nephews.

Gloria was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Donald Lee Houp.

Her funeral arrangements have been entrusted to the Fogelsanger-Bricker Funeral Home & Crematorium, Inc., Shippensburg. There will be no public viewing, visitation or funeral service. Interment will also be private.