St. Clair County Obits

GLADYS N. ANDERS

Hill & Son Funeral Home
February 6, 1899 - June 12, 2003
Gladys Nervina Anders, 104, Shawnee, Kansas, died June 12, 2003 after a short two month stay at Sharon Lane Nursing Home. She was born February 6, 1899, in Atlanta, Missouri, the daughter of George McClellan and Emily Rose (Stark) Rhoades. When Gladys was in the ninth grade she and some classmates were walking to school when they met a man with a team of horses and a grain filled wagon. He was introduced to her as Homer Anders. On April 19, 1922, she married Homer Anders in Butler, Missouri. Mrs. Anders was a homemaker which included being a gardener, canning vegetables, fruit and meat; raising and hatching chickens, quilting, crocheting and tatting. She delivered several babies and served as a midwife, as did her mother before her. Her community activities included substitute teaching and play directing for the Literary Club. She was also a Sunday school teacher and principal of summer Bible school. She was a lifelong Missouri resident spending most of her years on a farm south of Appleton City. Gladys lived in Butler, Missouri for ten years. She resided with her daughter in Kansas City for ten years before having to enter Sharon Lane on April 17, 2003. Preceding her in death were her husband, Homer, in 1978; a son Joe Kenneth (at age 5); an infant granddaughter Cathy; a granddaughter Betty Lea Richardson; two brothers, Charlie Rhoades and Art Rhoades; and two sisters, Marita Rhodes and Irene Hammer. Surviving are a daughter, Leona M. Russell, Shawnee, Kansas; a son, Elton E. Anders, Nevada, Missouri; 4 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; and 12 great-great-grandchildren.