Page 2 — SUSQUEHANNA BULLETIN
Gloria Alice Fisher has become
Gloria Fetter, the ‘weather
Gloria Fetter at home near Eden with her boxer, Dutch.
On October 31, 1947, a
junior at East Donegal High
School in Maytown was
crowned Halloween Queen
of Lancaster County.
The pretty junior, Gloria
Alice Fisher, lived in Florin
on the south or East
Donegal side of town and
consequently attended the
Maytown High School. Her
family had moved to the
area from York County only
a couple years before, but
Gloria had quickly become
an outstanding student in
Maytown. She was elected
to National Honor Society in
her junior year. She sang in
the choir and glee club. She
had dramatic ability and
played leads in an operctta,
and in the junior and senior
plays. She played basketball
and was sports editor of the
school paper, The Beacon.
Good Sutdent
Although she made *“‘A’s”’
in her courses, she had no
desire to go on to college.
She was enrolled in the
commercial course, and her
great ambition was to be a
secretary. Years later she
would remember the in-
struction she received in
shorthand and office prac-
tice from Miss Naomi Julius
(now Mrs. Norman Houseal,
Maytown). She would also
remember the English she
learned from Miss Grace
Henderson (still a resident
of Maytown). And she
would rememer her best
friend in high school, Betty
Ann Blessing (now Mrs.
John R. Stauffer, Mount
Joy).
Today, Gloria Fisher, the
Lancaster County
Halloween Queen of 1947, is
better known to thousands
of people in Lancaster and
York Counties as Gloria
Fetter, the ‘‘weather girl”
who appears every Monday
through Friday night around
11:23 on Channel 8, and
tells us what kind of weather
to expect the next day.
Becoming a “weather girl’
How did the Halloween
Queen become the regional
“‘weather girl’’?
Before she became a
meterorological woman,
Gloria had become a wife
(Mrs. James R. Fetter) and
a mother (children:Sharon,
now a dramatics student at
the University of California,
and Michael, now in the Air
Force in Michigan). Also,
she had realized her early
ambition, to be a secretary
(working for Robert S.
Mayo, civil engineer).
girl’
It was the summer of 1962
and a friend with whom she
drove to work told her that
WGAL-TV was looking for a
weather girl. Not really very
interested in getting the job,
but thinking it might be fun
to apply, Gloria went for a
tryout.
100 applicants
As it happened, WGAL
had already interviewed 100
women for the position, and
Gloria got to the studios on
the very last day the station
saw any new applicants.
She did rather well,
mainly she says, because
she was not deeply interest-
ed in getting the job, and
was consequently very re-
laxed.
Weeks went by, she heard
nothing from WGAL, and
decided she was out of the
running. Then, in Septem-
ber, the station called,
asking her to come for
another and final test. All
but four of the hundred girls
who had applied had been
eliminated from considera-
tion, and Gloria was among
the four finalists.
Executives from Bell Tel-
ephone in Philadelphia were
at the station to help in the
final selections. She still
didn’t think she wanted the
job, and when she was told
that she had been selected
to be WGAL'’s weather girl,
she told her new employers
and sponsors that she didn’t
want the position.
That first night
But she was prevailed on
to accept their offer. For the
next two months she studied
and rehearsed in front of the
cameras and with a tape
recorder at home. She
bought all the books she
could on weather and
immersed herself in the
subject.
On November 19, 1962,
she appeared live for the
first time as the weather girl
on Channel 8's 11 o’clock
news show. She had to learn
every detail of the weather
report that had come in at 10
o'clock, check the 11 o’clock
report, put together her
summary, arrange and pre-
pare all the maps and charts
to be shown, and then
deliver her report without
notes or prompter in a few
minutes before the camera.
Needless to say, when the
little red light flashed on
telling her she was ON—
Gloria was nervous.
Takes course
It didn’t take her long,
however, to learn to do her
job smoothly and efficiently.
Taking a course in meteoro-
logy at Millersville State
College gave her a solid
background of knowledge
. for her nightly reports to
waiting farmers, vacation-
ers, picnicers, ballplayers,
housewives who wanted to
hang out their wash the next
day, etc.—on whether it
would rain or shine the next
day.
Being a weather girl
changed Gloria’s life con-
siderably. Social life for her
and her husband has been
all but eliminated during the
weekdays and must be
crowded into weekends.
In addition to foretelling
the weather, Gloria is
fashion coordinator for the
Showcase of Fashions,
which supplies her TV
wardrobe.
Her daily schedule is
unlike most other people’s.
Her whole day is geared
toward those few minutes
following 11:23p.m. when
she presents the summary
of all the radar and
meteorological data she has
carefully condensed and
prepared.
When she comes home
around midnight, it takes
her a couple hours to
unwind. Rarely does she go
to bed before 2 a.m.
When she goes down-
town, strangers recognize
her, and take a second,
third, fourth and so on
looks.
A woman once approach-
ed Gloria and said, ‘‘You
are—— ——— , aren’t
you?"
And Gloria replied,
“Well, I think I am.”
“We could have a cloudy day tomorrow."
August 27, 1975
WILL YOU BE HAULING.
A GANG OF KIDS
AGAIN THIS YEAR?
STOP NOW & HAVE YOUR §
CAR CHECKED OUT Fog {
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Vol 75 No. 32 August 6,
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