Gloria Soto was born 64 years ago; she unexpectedly passed away on July 30th, 2021.

The pride and joy of her life was her daughter Nicole. She dedicated her life to caring for and supporting her daughter as a single mother. She was so proud of Nicole and her many accomplishments, but never so proud as the day Nicole became a mother. In December 2020, Gloria had the great pleasure of meeting her granddaughter Zoey and was able to spend countless hours bonding with her. The two formed a very close and special relationship. Gloria was the best grandmother ever.

Gloria was raised with her six siblings in Kingsburg, California, living in the country and then later moving to town. After graduation from Kingsburg High School in 1975, she completed her Associate's Degree from Fresno City College and then began her 34-year career with Fresno County working in the Auditor-Controller,/Treasurer- Tax Collector's Office working her way up the ranks to Supervising Payroll Technician. She was part of the team that successfully implemented the PeopleSoft HR system for payroll and automated the payroll process for the County, a system still being utilized to this day. She then transferred over to the Human Resource Department eventually retiring from the County as a Personnel Analyst. She was the unsung hero for the County, always working diligently behind the scenes to ensure the accuracy of the compensation for Fresno County employees and that all she encountered were treated with professionalism, compassion, and quality customer service. Her selfless devotion, knowledge, skills, integrity, and work ethic were beyond comparison. She never wanted the attention but preferred to work behind the scenes to get the job done. Sometimes this meant countless hours spent at the job to ensure the payroll deadline was met every two weeks with her daughter by her side on weekends; most of these hours were without any additional compensation.

After her retirement from Fresno County in 2013, Gloria enjoyed spending time at home with her family and many fur babies. Gloria loved to spend time in her backyard and gardening. She also loved to sew and crafted many outfits and clothing including masks in 2020 for her loved ones. She also enjoyed carrying on the tradition of making tamales at Christmas with her sister Connie for her large family. She could fix or at least figure out how to fix almost anything in the house or with her car. One of her favorite places to go was to Home Depot.

In 2016, she answered a cry for temporary help at Fresno State Office of Faculty Affairs, where once again she found herself working with HR/Payroll and PeopleSoft to ensure that the faculty and student Teaching Associates were promptly and properly paid. The part-time temporary job turned into a full-time job in this second career as an analyst. As always, she worked behind the scenes and took great pride in her work. She was an extremely valuable asset to both the Office of Faculty Affairs and the Payroll Office. She was the glue that kept things going. Her service was valued highly by all that she encountered and she was highly respected. If something needed to be taken care of with Faculty Payroll, she would make sure that it was done. She enjoyed the many friends that she made at Fresno State and loved to take walks at lunch to explore the beautiful Fresno State campus with her colleagues and running into her neighbor and old high school friend.

Gloria is survived by her brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, a daughter, granddaughter, and extended family.

Services will be held graveside at Fresno Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Fresno, California on Sept 17th at 10:30 am. Masks will be required. Following the graveside service, there will be lunch and a continued celebration of her life with family and friends at Frazier Gardens and Clubhouse located at 1745 N. Cornelia Ave. in Fresno.