Gladys Marie Green's Obituary
Gladys Marie Green, the daughter of Gilbert and Molly Storelee Olson, was born on November 5, 1917 in Enderlin, North Dakota, among ethnic Norwegian immigrant families. She was baptized and confirmed in the Christian faith at Fillmore Lutheran Church. She shared life on the farm with eight brothers and sisters—working really hard in those years on those North Dakota farms, shocking grain by hand with her sisters in the hot summers and freezing like all North Dakotans in the wintertime.
Her family lived across the section from the Green family. One of the Green boys—a guy by the name of Edvick always thought of Gladys as a kid, even though she was only a year younger. They used to trap gophers together. The county paid a bounty in those years of 2 cents a tail. Years later, Gladys would say of her future husband: “I always did like him.”
Gladys loved to dance—and on hot summer nights they could hear the music floating on the breeze from barn dances at the Green’s farm. When she was old enough, Dad eventually let Gladys go to the dances.
Gladys’ dad Gilbert really like Edvick, too. Apparently Edvick worked for Gilbert on occasion and Gilbert would send Gladys out to Edvick in the field with lunch—plenty of sandwiches and pie and cookies. They eventually started dating.
Edvick was drafted into the Army and went to boot camp in Louisianna. Eventually he was transferred to Ft. Lewis, Washington, and Gladys came to the Tacoma area and worked as a maid at the Carlton Hotel. She also worked in the shipyards as a burner, cutting metal, while Edvick served overseas in Europe. When Edvick was shipped out overseas, Gladys went to Portland to stay with her sister-in-law Ida and husband Kenneth. There she worked in the shipyards as a burner, cutting metal.
After the war, they were back in North Dakota—but Gladys made it known that she did not want to be a farmer’s wife. They moved back to the Tacoma area. They were married when Edvick was 30 and Gladys was 29 years old.
They moved into an apartment in Tacoma. Their next door neighbors were a couple from Arkansas, the Michaels. Later when Gladys and Edvick bought a house—imagine their surprise when they discovered that the Michael’s ended up buying the house next door. They remained fast friends ever since. Years later, when Mrs. Michael’s had died, Gladys was often heard to say: “I wish Viola was around to help.”
Gladys and Edvick were blessed in family. Edvick insisted: “I always want to see leftovers on the table.” Translated, that meant that the family always ate well. Fortunately for the family, Gladys was a tremendous cook. She kept up the Norwegian cooking tradition by making grut (pudding) and lutefisk and lefse and fattigmann cookies.
Over the years, Gladys also worked in furniture manufacturing—she stuffed the cushions. She also worked for a time at the Almond Rocca factory, packaging those chocolate candies. One year for Valentine’s Day Edvick thought he was doing a smart thing. He bought a box of Almond Roccas for Gladys. He lived to regret that decision. “Really now, Edvick—Almond Roccas?—uff dah!”
Gladys was a long-time member of Bethlehem Lutheran Church. She was a wonderful, loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and friend to many. She died peacefully on February 7, 2015, having attained the age of 97 years.
She was preceded in death by her parents; brother Iner; sisters Edna, Jenny, Anna and Olga; her sons Bruce, Dale, and loving husband of 52 years, Edvick.
She is survived by her sisters Dorothy and Agnes; brother Glenn; son Marlin and his wife Nancy; daughter Cindy and her husband Mark Colbo; seven grandchildren Jason, Kristin, Jeremy, Jacob, Heather, Holly, Brandon; and five great-grandchildren.
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