Gladys Stargel's Obituary
Gladys Marie (Dorsch) Stargel, passed away peacefully surrounded by her family, on May 1, 2023. Gladys was born August 22, 1936, in Wahpeton, North Dakota as the third child of Christopher and Mathilda Dorsch. She married Veldon C. Stargel on September 27, 1952, and moved with two children to Tacoma, WA in 1956. They had three more children and lived for years in their house on Asotin Street.
Gladys graduated from Lincoln High School in 1969, and Clover Park Vocational School in 1978 as a Librarian Technician. She worked for Library Services in the Tacoma School District until retiring in 1999. She was also very active in the Tacoma PTA, receiving the Golden Acorn Award, a very prestigious Washington State PTA award given out for exemplary and outstanding volunteerism and service to the PTA.
Gladys was an active member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Tacoma for nearly fifty-five years. She and Veldon enjoyed dancing, camping, and travelling in their motorhome. They also built a cabin in Nisqually Park near Mt. Rainier and often hosted family and relatives for long weekends and holidays. Gladys enjoyed sewing and bowling and was well known for her flour sack dish towels.
After her husband’s passing, Gladys enjoyed travelling with her daughters and granddaughters to Europe and the States, having dinner and playing cards every Friday night with her in-laws, trips to Mexico with friends, and cruises to Alaska and Hawaii with family. She was also known to often get into trouble with her granddaughters whenever they had cocktails and fun together.
Gladys is survived by her children David (Trisha), Joy (John), Bruce, and Bryon (Duane), as well as six grandchildren, one great grandchild, and her cat Tillie. She was preceded in death by her husband Veldon, and her daughter Valerie.
“I’m expecting to be okay until I see her…then I expect I will not be okay…then I expect I will be less okay in the end…then I expect, slowly, I will start to be okay again.”
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