Gladys Marie Garst Casperson was born in her family’s farm house near Edgar, Mont. on Flag Day 1921. She died peacefully, secure in her faith, at the home of her daughter, Teresa, and Russ DeSpain on Nov. 20, 2009.

The last of four daughters of Robert H. Garst and Dora Mae Campbell, both from Tennessee, she loved growing up on the ranch where her father farmed with horses. She married Robert H. Casperson in 1937. They had six children. Gladys could make any house into a warm, inviting home. Bob died in 1987.

The pioneer life path she followed was often very hard. She suffered the death of her firstborn son, Gerald, when she was 18. Bob moved to Alaska to homestead and Gladys was to follow, but the onset of WW II with Japan prevented travel to Alaska. It was two years before she and her daughter, Donna, were able to join him. Life in Alaska could be brutal, writing home to her folks, “It warmed up to 35 below zero so I hung out the wash.” Nearly dying from diphtheria after the birth of her daughter, Joan; the death of her 16 month old daughter, Edna Mae; the death her son “Guy” in a plane crash at age 27; the death of her beloved 30-year-old granddaughter, Jessica, tested her courage.

After settling in Preston, Idaho, Gladys joined the LDS church and was greatly sustained by the fellowship and her faith. She returned to Alaska from Preston, making the 2,800 mile trip on the Alcan Highway (2000 miles of gravel and mud) six times, often alone with her children, the “little yahoos.” Donna convinced her to “try” college, though she never graduated from high school. A’s in two USU night classes at Preston High School led to her full-time enrollment at Utah State, graduating in three years at age 50 with a BS in education. She taught fourth grade in Wendover, Utah until her retirement in Grantsville, where she enjoyed her grandchildren, painted pictures, served a mission at the Family History Library, and drove on hundreds of adventures, driving alone to Montana to visit her sisters into her seventies.

Gladys is survived by three daughters, Donna, Joan, and Teresa, and their spouses; her grandchildren, Jeremy, Judd, Joshua, Jordan, Jacob, Juliana, and Joanna Johnson, and Whitney and Dorie DeSpain.

A viewing will be held Friday, Nov. 27 at Sundberg Olpin Mortuary, 495 So. State, Orem from 6-8 p.m. and 8:45-9:45 a.m. before the 10 a.m. funeral on Nov. 28 at the LDS chapel, 1810 West Springwater Drive, Orem. Burial will be in Logan Cemetery.