Gloria F. Martino, a longtime Towson Times correspondent who chronicled the comings and goings of her Timonium neighborhood for a quarter of a century, died of cancer Aug. 27 at the Mercy Ridge Retirement Community in Timonium, where she had lived since 2010. She was 97.

“Gloria was a remarkable woman who was a welcoming, outgoing and very helpful person and a wonderful neighbor,” said Helen M. Reichel, a longtime friend. “We were very close, and I was fortunate to have known her all these years.”

Gloria Fernanda Di Iorio, the youngest daughter of Gloriano Di Iorio and Mary Lalla Di Iorio, immigrants from Fraine, Italy, was born and raised in Paterson, New Jersey.

She was a graduate of Eastside High School and attended Sherwood School, a junior college in Paterson.

In 1945, while working for an insurance agency in New York City, she met her future husband, Louis E. Martino Sr., when she was sitting on the boardwalk in Asbury Park, New Jersey, with a few other vacationing friends and he lit her cigarette.

“He told me he’d meet me at church the next morning for mass, and there he was,” Mrs. Martino told The Baltimore Sun at her husband’s death in 2007. “We dated for a few years and married in 1949.”

Mr. Martino, a Western Electric Corporation auditor, and their three children later moved to Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1962 because of his work. They came to Timonium in 1970, when he was transferred to the company’s Point Breeze Works.

Mrs. Martino, who lived on Forest Ridge Road, covered Timonium-Cockeysville neighborhood news for 25 years as a correspondent for the Towson Times.

Mrs. Martino signed off each of her columns with a friendly “Until we meet again!”

“I admired her writing skills and her willingness to cover the news,” Reichel said.

She was a longtime communicant at St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Texas, Baltimore County, where she was a Eucharistic minister, a practice she continued after moving to Mercy Ridge in 2010.

At Mercy Ridge, she was an active volunteer with various groups, including welcoming new residents through the Monday Connections program and serving on a selection committee that awarded scholarships to the young students who worked there.

“That was a big priority for Gloria,” Reichel said.

She and her husband were world travelers, with Italy, Hawaii and Florida being favorite destinations.

Mrs. Martino was an avid reader and enjoyed playing games of strategy. She was also an enthusiastic gin rummy and bridge player and was a board member of BIDS, a local bridge group.

She was a serious golfer and had been a member of many golfing groups. She also liked playing tennis, enjoying the sport well into her 80s, family members said.

“Gloria remained sharp and alert until the end of her life,” Reichel said.

A Mass of Christian Burial was offered on Sept. 4 at St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church.

Mrs. Martino is survived by her two sons, Louis E. Martino Jr., of Clarksville, and Robert G. Martino, of Phoenix, Baltimore County; a daughter, Michelle M. Naumann, of Cockeysville; eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.