Mrs. E. Luvert Glanton

Mrs. Luvert Glanton, the mother of five boys, was born on November 7, 1927, to the late Willie Peterson and Bertha Peterson. She was one of six children. Her life began in Crenshaw County, Alabama, where she worked hard to assist her parents in providing the necessities of life.

Her family moved to Foley, Alabama where she worked in the fields and provided house cleaning services for the wealthy citizens of Baldwin County, Alabama. Her education was limited at that time as it was for all Black people in the South. Over time, she eventually obtained a job as a cook at the Navy base in Pensacola, Florida. There she met her prince charming, Joseph Tyree Glanton, a soldier from an affluent and educated family. Luvert's life took a positive turn while she supported her soldier. They joined hands in matrimony, and she traveled with him everywhere his duty called. Other times, she would raise their children alone while he served overseas.

After he retired from the military, they moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where Joseph worked as an insurance salesman for North Carolina Mutual. Luvert helped support her husband's thriving business and growing family. Tragically, Joseph was killed in an automobile accident just three years after retiring from the military. Her loving husband gone, Luvert was left with five boys to raise to adulthood. The grieving widow purchased a home in Nashville, TN and moved there with her family.

Despite losing her husband and uprooting herself and five boys, Luvert never one to rest on her laurels immediately enrolled at a barber college after arriving in Nashville. After graduating, she began working at Reed's Barber shop in Nashville. Later in her career, she worked with Oprah Winfrey's father, Vernon, as a barber before she decided to venture out on a new career path.

Luvert earned a Certified Nurse Technician license and worked at Central State Hospital. She found the work rewarding, but always cut hair, missing the personal connection the profession provided. Be it healthcare or hair, Luvert loved to be of service to all that needed it. Later, she opened a very successful daycare center. Finally, she retired after working at Alive Hospice, spending the final years of her distinguished career providing care to those in their final stages of life.

Luvert's love for her family was unwavering. She embodied the role of Matriarch for her family, often picking up her grandchildren from school, or stepping in to help when their parents could not make ends meet. One does not raise five boys alone without some sternness, and Luvert demanded respect and obedience from her children and grandchildren. It was a sternness borne of an intense love, however, and she did all she could in this life to make sure her family was raised right.

When not with her family, Luvert's most joyous time was spent working in her vegetable and flower garden. She had a green thumb and under her care, almost any plant could be brought back to life.

If her work on this earth and the life she lived is a testament, truly it is a testament of success, love, and selflessness.

Luvert is preceded in death by her husband, Joseph Tyree Glanton, Sr., beloved sons, Songoleke Kotunu, (aka Joseph Tyree Glanton, Jr.), James Brooks, and Benjamin Brooks, granddaughters, Verbina Glanton, Benecia Brooks, grandsons, James Lars Brooks, Joseph Glanton; siblings, Mazie Belle Dinkins, Lugenia Hall of Foley, AL, and Charles W. Carvin, Louisville, KY.

She leaves to cherish her memory, her devoted sons, Luvell L. Glanton, Esq. and Jerry Glanton (Katie); her special and loving grandson, Luvell L. Glanton, Jr., M.D. (Sophia Glanton, M.D.); her devoted grandson, Terrell Smith (Sheila). grandsons, James Lawerence Green (Stacie), Benjamin Brooks, Jr.; and devoted granddaughters, Christal Stephens, Kimberly Spencer, Nicole Sherill, Rita Brooks, Shannon Glanton, Shanna Blackman, Jerice Glanton, Esq., Syeta Glanton, Esq., Miricle Glanton, Dr. Temecca Fisher, Towanda Fisher, Anya Glanton and Naje Glanton and a host of great grandchildren;  daughter-in-laws, Virginia Brooks, Bobbie Brooks and Monifa Kotunu; siblings, Marie English and Zennie Peterson,  other nieces, nephews, great grandchildren and cousins.

She is also survived by a devoted nephew, James Barnett and her devoted friends, Helen Smith, Ella Batts, Neil Rice, Winston Griner, M.D, Jewell Grimes, (Timothy, Tiffany Cole), and former daughter-in-law, Wanda Fisher, who was like a daughter to her.