Gloria Nelson McManus
Gloria Nelson McManus, who began her life on the austere prairie of northern Saskatchewan, Canada, departed life from Santa Barbara on Monday, January 26.
It was quite a journey. As a child, Gloria worked with her family to clear their homesteaded land for farming, but at the same time she was fascinated by the stories and photos of far-off lands that she saw in the magazines that her aunt would bring when visiting the family farm. Gloria vowed to travel to the exotic places that she saw in those magazines.
And did she ever!
She moved to Los Angeles within weeks of graduating from Crystal Springs (Saskatchewan) High School and attended El Camino College prior to joining Los Angeles Airways and then, in 1969, Pan American World Airways. It was at Pan Am where she met John McManus, who had the same urge to explore the world. They were married in 1971 in Pago Pago, American Samoa, and savored a life of magical travels together.
Taking what they learned during their years of international travel with Pan Am, John and Gloria founded Magellan’s Travel Supplies in 1989 (after Gloria put in several years at Raytheon in Goleta). It was truly a “kitchen table” startup. They began the company with a small black-and-white catalog mailed from their home in Santa Barbara, and grew it into a successful international company with over 100 employees, with retail stores in Santa Barbara and Santa Monica and an extensive Web site (www.magellans.com). One of Gloria’s accomplishments was the development of a successful line of travel clothing (comfortable, wrinkle-free, fast-drying) for the company.
They successfully sold Magellan’s in 2005 and began to travel again. It was only in 2020 that Alzheimer’s Disease brought Gloria’s travels to an end, eventually forcing a move into Casa San Miguel in Santa Barbara, owned by Katerina Marcellin and operated by an incredibly well-qualified and compassionate staff (especially Vefa Gasanova) for whom, along with Central Coast Home Health and Hospice, and dear Jeanne West, John is so very grateful.
Surviving Gloria is her husband John (Santa Barbara), as well as her brothers Elvin Nelson and Larry Nelson, her sisters Ann Sackville and Donna Rude, and many much-loved nieces and nephews (all still residing in Canada). Two other sisters, Leone Inkster and Della Pederson, pre-deceased her several years ago.
Funeral services will be held in St Barbara Parish at Old Mission Santa Barbara in the near future. In support of Gloria’s fierce support of a society where all people are treated equally and with dignity, it is suggested that Gloria’s favorite charity, the Immigrant Legal Defense Center of Santa Barbara, be remembered on her behalf in lieu of flowers.
