by Ron Johnston
Gloria Weiland McMahan and husband, Richard, will be celebrating their 42nd wedding anniversary September 3.
A blended family, Gloria has a son, and Richard a son and daughter from previous marriages.
The McMahans, who also have grandchildren, reside on Lake Murray in Chapin, South Carolina.
Unlike Rich, a native South Carolinian, Gloria is originally from the Rochester area and is a member of the Churchville-Chili Class of 1967.
The question naturally begs, how did north meet south?
Gloria gives credit to one of her older sisters.
“I followed Bonnie to South Carolina in 1981. She and her husband, two sons, moved to Orangeburg, SC in 1978,” Gloria said. “I met Richard the next year (1982) and we married September 3, 1982.”
Gloria spent most of her youth with her siblings, Gail, Bonnie, and Bob in Riga Center. The Woody and Marge Weiland home was the second house on the left at the intersection, two miles due south of Churchville.
“I had many years of fun playing with Diane and Laurie (next door neighbors),” Gloria said. “I was not very good at sports, but the (neighborhood) boys tolerated me the few times we played baseball. Riding Benny (horse) was fun, too.”
Gloria paused.
“I remember summer nights playing hide and seek and kick the can,” she continued. “We used to see lightning bugs a lot then.”
Strolling the hallways as a teenager at Churchville-Chili Senior High School on Buffalo Road, Gloria often “turned heads” as she was one of the prettiest girls in the school. One of her suitors, Bob Raines, was a standout Saints wrestler, and later would become her husband and father of her son.
Gloria was a good student and enjoyed athletics, earning a tumbler’s award. She was also an excellent badminton and euchre player.
Long story short, after marriage and having a child, Gloria studied, worked hard, and became a paralegal – and ultimately ended up in South Carolina where she became a senior legal assistant with Nelson, Mullins, Riley &Scarborough in Columbia for many years.
“When I moved here in 1981, there were only 28 attorneys at the firm,” Gloria said, “and I was the sixth paralegal.
“The firm then expanded to branch offices in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia, and added 300-plus attorneys, approximately 65 paralegals and 40 Project Assistants, who report to those paralegals having sufficient workload to need assistance with document handling, etc.”
Gloria added, “I enjoyed working with intelligent, busy, hardworking people, and the challenging work in the Litigation Department.”
Meanwhile, her husband, Richard, was a Senior Consultant and Wealth Advisor at Morgan Stanley.
Both Gloria and Richard commuted to Columbia, about 35 miles from their home on Lake Murray.
“Richard and I had this house built in 1996, and we have loved every minute living on this quiet cove,” Gloria said. “Love photographing wildlife out here.”
Gloria recently had a hip replacement in April. But that hasn’t kept her down at all.
“I ambulate without an aid,” she said.
Gloria is also planning a short trip in the near future to Lexington, South Carolina, to visit Bonnie and her family.
“It is nice living within a 50 minute drive from each other,” Gloria said.
Note: Ron Johnston, a 1966 Churchville-Chili graduate, is the author of One-Game Wonder.
