ALTAMONT — Jean Thatcher, who worked at the Army Depot after World War II, was an accomplished artist and crafter.

She died peacefully in her Furbeck Road home on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2024 of congestive heart failure. She was 94.

“Born July 31, 1929, she grew up in Broadalbin, New York,” her daughter wrote in a tribute, “and was never called ‘Gloria’ except by medical receptionists and the IRS after a cousin six months older couldn’t pronounce ‘Gloria’ and called her ‘Deen.’

“As a small child, she lived with siblings, Eleanor and Paul, and parents, Ray and Daisy (née Brooks) Gifford, in a glovecutter’s work shed belonging to Ray’s father.

“When war came and her mother moved to Schenectady to operate a crane at General Electric, Jean worked at Barney’s Department Store, literally rising from her first position as elevator operator to work in the office. She later took the Civil Service exam and worked at the Army Depot on a room-sized punchcard computer. 

“Friends kept throwing her and her future husband, Walter J. Thatcher, together in bars and clubs where his trio, the Celebri-Tones, would play a phrase of ‘Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley’ in the middle of whatever song they were playing when he saw she had entered.

“They started building a house and eloped to Connecticut on Dec. 8, 1960, returning to find the plumber had not believed they were actually going to marry and had failed to hook up the bathroom. They would sell that house to the Albany Country Club within a year, moving to Colonie for four years and then to Clifton Park where they stayed for 20 years before building their home in Altamont in 1984. 

“Jean was an accomplished artist and crafter whose interests ranged from ceramics, Swedish weaving, whittling, furniture refinishing, sewing, leatherwork, and even paint by number. She began taking lessons in porcelain art in 1976 and became an accomplished professional and charter member number 8 of the Porcelain Painters' International Organization. She was also a realistic and abstract watercolorist and member of the Firehouse Painters group, exhibiting and selling art at the Local Color Gallery and a large number of other shows and venues. 

“Jean detested cooking, preferring to spend her time doing art or tending her flowers. She was a member of Amity Reformed Church in Vischers Ferry where she worked on many dinners, rummage sales, and other events with close friends Marcia Bailey, Jean Ward, and Ethel Burgi. She embraced the Internet and computers and kept up with many friends through social media and email.

“In the last year of her life, she took up on-location painting and spent many happy hours driving local back roads with her daughter and stopping to paint along the way.”

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Gloria Jean (née Gifford) Thatcher is survived by her daughter, Terry Thatcher Waltz, and her husband, Craig; by her nephew Fred Mastrianna and his wife, Bonnie; and by her grand- and great-grand nieces.

Her husband, Walter Thatcher, died before her, as did her sister, Eleanor Mastrianna, and her brother, Paul Gifford.

“Special thanks,” the tribute said, “to niece Diane Deyoe for her constant assistance that enabled Jean to remain comfortable and in her house until the end of her life.”