My mother’s sister, Gladys, passed away very early in the morning on March 6, 2012. She was the baby sister of her family; always smiling, joking and laughing. I remember Gladys well because she and Mom had a special bond.
Both my Mom and Dad enjoyed having her visit and spend as much time as she could staying at their house. She spent many holidays with us in Baudette, where I grew up, as well as in the Twin Cities, when Mom and Dad and the three of us kids all moved within 30 minutes of each other.
She was an easy guest, sleeping in late, entertaining herself on the piano, helping with whatever little errand or chore my Mom came up with to keep herself moving. I think one of their favorite things to talk about during their later visits was food from their life on the farm. They were, of course, 100% Norwegian, don’t cha know. Of all the interesting and fresh food they must have enjoyed (garden vegetables, blood sausage, etc.) as kids on the farm, when Gladys was coming to visit, Mom would always say they were going to make milk soup. There must have been something very emotional and warm about their memories of milk soup.
Gladys started life as a Lutheran at West Nidaros Lutheran Church in Crooks, SD when it was truly a rural farm church. Later, she was a long time member of First Lutheran in Sioux Falls, SD and sang in the choir until she could no longer climb the stars to the choir loft. She worked for many years at the Salvation Army and was a lover of people.
Our family will miss her greatly, my mother, on Sunday nights when they would call and talk to each other weekly, and the rest of us, at family reunions and holidays, which she made special with her presence. We are all so glad that she was able to spend Thanksgiving 2011 in the Twin Cities and stayed for a week with my parents at their apartment in North Branch.
I am sure she is singing with a choir of angels now.
GLADYS AND HER KITTEN GLADYS (on the left) AND MOM ON
(circa ~1942) THANKSGIVING, 2011
