Gladys Readler’s family sorrowfully announces her death on the evening of Saturday, January 4, 2025. Her humor, love, and strength are sorely missed.
At the very respectful 94 years, Gladys Readler has completed just shy of one century of happy, productive life. A prodigious legacy of six grandchildren (and one deceased), thirteen great grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild continue to thrive in the caring wake of her busy, ever-fruitful years. Born a coal miner’s daughter, fifth of seven children, Gladys Badman, schooled as an office secretary, married Clifford Readler in 1950, and a few years later moved into their ramshackle farm house in Dorrance Township, where they lived and prospered for the next seventy years, turning an exhausted subsistence farm into a slice of rural paradise. Housewife, nurses aide, house cleaner, factory worker, Gladys, a product of the Great Depression, lived every day with the philosophy that every day is another opportunity to earn your own keep. For her, relaxation was something fine to be earned. Blindsighted by the heartbreaking burden of losing her youngest son, Scott, Gladys refused to succumb to self-pity.
Some of her greatest joys were to give gifts to, and to bake treats for, her kids and grandkids,
and. always, to laugh, and even better to laugh along with others. Gladys served on Consistory at Emmanuel United Church of Christ (a member for over sixty years).
Born to Joseph and Florence Badman in 1930, Gladys is survived by her sister Ada, three children: Paula Rowlands and her husband, James; Blaine Readler and his wife, Monica; and Kenny Readler and his wife Viveca. Surviving grandchildren include: Carrie Johnson; James Rowlands; Hollie Leatherman; Scott Rowlands; Emily Krider; Luke Readler; and two step-grandchildren, Candice Price and Jacob Warman (as well as thirteen great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild). Gladys is pre-deceased by her brothers, William, Robert, Harry, and Joseph, and her sister Agnes, as well as son, Scott, and grandchild Zach.
Services for Gladys begin at the gravesite at 10:00 AM, Friday, January 10, followed by a memorial service at 11:00 AM at Emmanuel United Church of Christ in Dorrance, at the corner of Alberdeen and Blue Ridge Trail Roads. Lunch will be served immediately after the service for family and extended family.
Online messages of comfort for her family may be sent to condolences@HellerFuneralHomeLLC.com.