Gloria Schurman, age 85, passed away on Friday, December 5, 2025.
Gloria Knott Schurman (b. November 21, 1940), known affectionately to many as Glo, made life’s final journey December 5, 2025, after a courageous battle with cancer. She is much beloved and deeply missed by her son and daughter-in-law Mark and Sue Schurman (nee Crites), grandchildren Haley, William and Daniel Schurman, nieces, nephews and cousins, and dear friends old and new. Gloria was preceded by siblings Kay Muckenthaler, Ralph Knott, and Marjorie Godlewski (nee Desautels), parents Frank and Genevieve Knott (nee Dudzinski), and Helmut Schurman, to whom she was briefly married and maintained a lifelong friendship.
Born in Detroit, Glo spent much of her childhood in Weslaco, TX, later moving to Prescott, MI where she graduated high school at 16. Her adult life took her to Detroit, the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and Boston, returning to the Detroit area in the late ’80s. Since 2017, she was pleased to call Holland, MI her home.
Whether inside an Egyptian pyramid, atop the Eiffel Tower or Machu Picchu, on African safari, or beside a giant tortoise in the Galapagos, across 7 continents and more than 100 countries, Glo explored and experienced the world with a joyful sense of wonder and adventure. She was a passionate genealogist, deeply researching and publishing Knott, Dudzinski and related families’ ancestries through the 1700s. This inspired more travel, to small towns and villages in the US, UK and Poland where she combed early church and civic records and enjoyed meeting “new” extended family along the way. In later years she became an avid distance swimmer, enjoyed strength training, and was a near daily fixture at her local fitness center. And Glo’s curiosity and creativity was expressed through art, as she worked prolifically for two decades in oils, watercolor, collage, pen and pencil, and sculpture.
Gloria’s professional life was also important to her and another source of travel and friendships. In 1965, she became a sales agent for United Airlines. She embraced the work, particularly the early computing technology it relied on, and certainly the travel benefits. Gloria later became manager of a successful travel agency. In the ’70s she recognized the age of technology arriving and developed skills in computer programming, eventually becoming an IT manager. This led to changing industries, first to broadcasting and then automotive. Gloria was proudly among the first US employees of Mazda Motor Corporation, where she retired in 2005.
For Glo, each new trip, passion, or profession was approached with boundless enthusiasm, a terrific work ethic, and the welcoming of new friendships. As she said recently, “I’m so grateful for what I’ve been able to see and do, and all the wonderful people I have known. They have made it a grand life.”
The family will host friends in remembering a life well lived between 4:00-7:00 pm on Monday, December 15, 2025, at Boatwerks Waterfront Restaurant – Macatawa Room, 216 Van Raalte Ave. Holland, MI 49423. Please use main restaurant entrance.
Donations to the American Cancer Society at www.cancer.org are also encouraged.
Per her wishes, Glo’s ashes will be shared with the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, “so I can keep on traveling.”
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