Loretta Marie Saunders of Lawson, Missouri, passed away on May 14, 2021.
Marie, at the age of 108, had out lived three husbands, 10 siblings, and one daughter. She is survived by four children and well over 100 grandchildren, great grand children, and great-great grand children.
Marie was born in Preston, Idaho, in 1913. She was the 6th child of 11 and the smallest, she had six brothers and four sisters. When she was little the Doctor told her dad that if he wanted her to live he needed to take her out with him when he milked the cow and give her the first milk that came out of the cow. She remembers her dad saying “Marie go get your cup” and then he would sling her up onto his left shoulder and off to the barn they would go, with her tin cup in her little hand to the barn.
Her family moved to Smithfield, Utah, when she was 8, where she grew up.
She married Don Gladwell and had five children, Genette Buck, Virginia Jones, Don Gladwell Jr., Jeraldine Sales and Marcia Newell (deceased).
She was an electrician for the U.S. Air Force on Fighter Jet planes and was repeatedly awarded for her excellence in that field for 21 years. On top of working long hours as an electrician she loved to garden and always had a beautiful yard full of flowers. She made quilts and did family history. She cared for both of her parents and step mother until they died.
She was a very warm, cheerful, witty, loving and caring person. No one ever left her home without a bag of fruit or vegetables — fresh from her garden or home canned and/or money in their pocket if she felt they needed it.
She has lived with her daughter, Jeraldine, in Lawson, Missouri since November 2003.
Arrangements in care of Bross & Spidle Funeral Home, Lawson Chapel.
