Gloria Smith-Narter Obituary

Gloria Mildred Smith-Narter was born in Plainfield, New Jersey on May 3, 1931, to Nolie Bray Meade and Anderson Moon, Jr., and raised in Westfield, New Jersey. She went home to be with the Lord, her mother, and her husband, Patrick Narter, on January 23, 2026, in Jacksonville, Florida.

Gloria accomplished much in her life, and most of all she had a giving spirit. She wanted us to have good lives and be caring and loving to others at the same time. She taught by example. As a child, Gloria always wanted to be a nurse. She became the first black African-American nursing student at Middlesex General Hospital and graduated with honors in 1955. And thus began her life-long journey of demonstrating that caring for others and advocating for yourself are one in the same. She gave sanctuary in her home to Freedom Riders in the 60's and college students in the 70's. Additionally, in the 70's she began a forty-year long tradition of hosting annual Kwanzaa feasts (Karamu) at her home and has continued since that time, while introducing others to the experience and instilling pride in her children and others who participate.

She believed that education about who we are as a people, was key to our happiness in life. She was an active parent at the Chad School in Newark, NJ where her daughter Darlene attended and on the board of the Nyerere Educational Institute in New Brunswick, NJ where both Darlene and her youngest daughter Karimu attended.

Gloria was a member of the Citizens Club and Ladies Auxiliary Community Center in Franklin Township, which was later named the Hamilton Park Youth Development Project Community Center. During her time there, she and other community members established the Frederick Douglas Liberation Library in 1969, which later was moved into the Franklin Township Public Library system.

In 1969 Gloria became the first nurse at the newly established Livingston College at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. She stayed employed there through the late 1970s and befriended many educators, artists, poets, writers, and activists at the school that fueled her future endeavors and activism.

After leaving her job at Rutgers she became the school nurse at what was then known as Madison Central High School and later at Cedar Ridge High School (now merged and known as Old Bridge High School). She started the Black Experience Club at the school and provided all students who participated the opportunity to have black leaders, educators and professionals speak to the students about the opportunities available to them and to learn about the African diaspora. In addition, every year she took the students on a trip to a Broadway Show in New York City to see the African American theater productions that were out at the time; or to see the African exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a private viewing; the Studio Museum and the Schomburg Center for the Research in Black Culture in Harlem, NY; and to other culturally relevant exhibits and programs in the NY, NJ and Pennsylvania area. She did this until retiring in 1995.

Gloria was a Girls Scout Leader, a nurse in the summer for the Head Start-MCEOC program; active with the Urban League (later known as the Civic League) of New Brunswick and the New Brunswick Area NAACP; a member of the Friends of Haiti; and a supporter of the Black House (later known as the Paul Robeson Cultural Center) at Rutgers University, which notes is widely recognized as the first black cultural center on a college campus in the United States.

While married to Patrick Narter and living in Copenhagen, Denmark she was very active with the International City Baptist Church Denmark, an African Christian church her husband helped to start in Copenhagen. She later moved back to the USA with her husband, and they became very active members of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, NJ. She even joined the Senior Choir and was active in the Senior Group before moving to Jacksonville, FL.

Gloria's wishes are for her friends and family to celebrate her through the joy of living. One of her many favorite sayings, "We are born to be happy" illustrates how she lived her life. She was happy in living and is now happy with the Lord.

Gloria is survived by, not to mourn, but to celebrate her life: half-sister Mozetta Moon Carney, step-daughter Karen Dockery (spouse Charles Dockery) of Mount Vernon, NY; daughters Darlene Smith (spouse Jose Bautista) of Somerset, NJ and Karimu Smith of Jacksonville, FL; granddaughter Chelsea Barron, grandsons Silas Goodall, IV (spouse Donna Goodall), Carlos Goodall and Juma Dockery, nine great grandchildren, four great-great grandchildren, cherished cousin Thelma Naylor, sister-friend Dolores Pegram Wilson, a host of other relatives, extended family and friends.