Gloria Gillenwater Trotter, 81, of Tecumseh, Oklahoma, passed away May 18, 2026.
A native of Bristol, Tennessee-Virginia, Gloria was born Sept. 3, 1944, to Wilfred Kelso Gillenwater Sr. and Minnie Lou (Davis) Gillenwater.
Gloria began her journalism career while still in high school, working for the Bristol Virginia- Tennessean from 1962 to 1963 and providing news coverage for WCYB-TV. From 1974 to 1977, she served as news director for WOPI Radio in Bristol, Tennessee, and later worked as continuing education marketing director at Mississippi State University.
On Dec. 26, 1964, Gloria married the love of her life, Wayne Trotter. The couple soon discovered that many news organizations did not permit married couples to work together, inspiring their dream of owning a newspaper of their own.
Their journey took them to Memphis, Tennessee, and Asheboro, North Carolina, before they purchased the Countywide News in Tecumseh in 1983. Gloria and Wayne served as co-publishers for 34 years before selling the newspaper to longtime employee Suzie Campbell.
In 1990, they launched the Shawnee Sun, which later merged with the Countywide News to form the Countywide & Sun in 2008. For a period of time, they also published a newspaper in McLoud.
Throughout her career, Gloria was deeply involved in her profession and community. She was a founding member of PAVE (Pottawatomie Advocates for Voter Education). She also served on numerous boards and organizations, including the Tecumseh Chamber of Commerce, Freedom of Information Oklahoma (FOI Oklahoma), where she served as both president and board member, and the Oklahoma Press Association, where she served as president in 2009.
Her contributions to journalism earned her numerous honors. She won the Oklahoma Natural Gas-Oklahoma Press Association Column Sweepstakes Award in 1989 and 1996. In 2004, she received the Charles E. Thornton Outstanding Journalism Award, presented annually by the Journalism Alumni Board of the University of Memphis. In 2005, she became the . rst Oklaho- man to receive the National Newspaper Association’s prestigious McKinney Award.
Gloria and Wayne were inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 2009. She received the Oklahoma Press Association’s (OPA) H. Milt Phillips Award in 2010 and the Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation’s Beachy Musselman Award in 2014. Together, Gloria and Wayne amassed 13 of the coveted OPA Sequoyah Awards for the best newspaper in Oklahoma in their division.
Outside of journalism, Gloria enjoyed traveling with Wayne. They especially loved visiting New Orleans and Puerto Vallarta and spending time together on cruises.
Gloria was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Wayne Trotter; her brother, Wilfred Kelso Gillenwater Jr.; and her sister, Karen Wilks (Gillenwater) Gordon.
She is survived by her son, Greg Trotter, and wife Sabrina; her sister, Lisa Margaret (Gillenwater) Wilson and husband Dolan; granddaughters, Erica Brittney Speers and husband Devin, Cynthia Gwen Cooper and husband Clayton, and Elizabeth Coppak; and great-grandchildren, Aiden Speers, Leo Speers, Arya Cooper, and Oliver Cooper.
Visitation will be held from 9 am to 8 pm Thursday, May 21, 2026, at Cooper Funeral Home in Tecumseh, with family present from 5 pm to 7 pm.
Funeral services will be held at 11 am Friday, May 22, 2026, at Broadway United Methodist Church in Tecumseh under the direction of Cooper Funeral Home, with Rev. Jessica Higgins o ciating.
Memorial contributions may be made to Broadway United Methodist Church.
