Gloria Gaither

Gloria Lee Gaither, born Gloria Sickal in Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1942, is an American Christian songwriter, author, speaker, editor, educator, and performer. Her father, W. Lee Sickal, was a Church of God pastor, and her mother, Dorothy, encouraged her literary interests. Gloria attended Anderson College, where she studied English, French, and sociology, graduating in 1963. She later earned a master’s degree in literature from Ball State University and taught both in secondary education and, later, at Anderson University.

She married Bill Gaither in 1962, and their partnership joined her literary strengths with his musical gifts. Together they wrote hundreds of gospel songs, including “Because He Lives,” “The King Is Coming,” and “Something Beautiful,” while Gloria also became closely involved in the Bill Gaither Trio and later Gaither Homecoming productions.

In accounts preserved for the Companion to The United Methodist Hymnal and in later interviews, Gloria connected “Because He Lives” with the anxiety of raising their young family during a period of social unrest and with the birth of their son Benjamin in 1970. The published song credits both Gloria and Bill as authors.