Annabelle Glasgow, 79, banquet server and Baptist church member
Ms. Glasgow enjoyed being a banquet server because she got a chance to meet people and try all kinds of fancy food, her sister said.
Annabelle Glasgow, 79, of Tioga, a banquet server and longtime Baptist churchgoer, died Tuesday, July 24, of pancreatic cancer at St. Ignatius Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in West Philadelphia.
Ms. Glasgow was born to Dorothy Mae Glasgow and Odell Davis in Newberry, S.C. Known to friends as "Ann," she was educated in the Newberry public schools and graduated from Gallman High School in 1957. Ms. Glasgow was raised by her grandmother Emma Glasgow.
Ms. Glasgow's faith was an important element of her life. She was baptized at an early age at Old Beaver Dam Baptist Church in Newberry, and once she moved to Philadelphia in her late teens, she attended Foster Memorial Baptist Church in North Philadelphia.
Later in life, she switched to Triumph Baptist Church under the leadership of the Rev. James Hall. She attended the Nicetown church regularly until December 2010, when complications from knee and leg surgery interfered with her mobility.
In her late teens, she began working at the U.S. Mint on Spring Garden Street. Her second and most long-standing job was as a banquet server, working in various hotels throughout the Philadelphia area.
"She really loved being a banquet server because she got a chance to meet people and was exposed to all types of fancy foods," said her sister Beatrice Reid. "She was excited when she saw someone she knew at one of those affairs where she was working."
Ms. Glasgow served as shop steward for the Philadelphia chapter of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union.
A self-described workaholic, she got a job as a home health aide when the banquet business was slow. Her last assignment as a health aide was the day before she had double knee surgery in December 2010. After the surgery, she retired. "She wasn't able to walk after that," Reid said.
Ms. Glasgow was a homeowner and a homebody. She loved to cook, sew, and garden. She was credited with organizing and helping plant one of the first community gardens in Tioga. She made sure that the gardeners learned how to can and freeze the produce they picked.
"She and some of her neighbors had Penn State's Extension Service come out and do a little workshop for us," Reid said. "That's how we learned to can and freeze the proper way."
Ms. Glasgow never had children, but that didn't stop her from being a surrogate mother. She helped raise her niece Renee Alexander; Renee's brother Lewis Alexander; and Edward "Lil Ed" Cottrell Jr., the son of her longtime partner, Edward Cottrell Sr.
Ms. Glasgow had a sister and brother who died earlier. Besides her partner, she is survived by three brothers, 10 sisters, and many nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Friday, Aug. 3, at Foster Memorial Baptist Church, 2401 N. 18th St., Philadelphia. Interment is private.
Memorial donations may be made to Triumph Baptist Church, 1648 W. Hunting Park Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19140.