Gladys Castle

Services for Gladys Viola Wallis Castle, 101, will be at 10am, Wednesday, July 30, 2014 at SteedTodd Funeral Home. Burial will follow at Lawn Haven Memorial Gardens.
Gladys Viola Wallis Castle was born on November 2, 1912, to Richard Napolean and Mary Forbes Wallis in Rogers County, Oklahoma. She was the 10th of 12 children. Her father died when she was 5 years old. Her mother stayed on the farm to raise her family. Gladys graduated from Claremore High School in 1931 after which she completed business in Talequah.
Gladys came to New Mexico to help her sister, Juanita Sweet, with her newborn son, Gerald Eugene. Shortly after arriving, she met the dashing Thomas Benjamin Castle.
They were married on February 2, 1933. Times were hard and Gladys worked side by side with Ben doing farm work. They worked from daylight to dark.
Joyce Margarite was the fist born, followed by Donna Lea and Bennie Sue. In 1942, the family moved from Melrose to Clovis when Ben started working for the Santa Fe railroad.
Gladys stayed at home with her girls. She sewed all of their clothing, took care of her yard and canned many cans of food. Gladys sacrificed her own needs to take care of her family.
Ben loved to hunt and fish. After the girls got a little older, Gladys joined him in fishing and hunting. She had her own rifle with which she killed her own deer. After Ben retired, they traveled extensively visiting family in Tennessee, Missouri, California and Oregon. They also went to the Petrified Forest and the Grand Canyon.
Ben died in 1993, Gladys continued to live in her own home, caring for her yard. She loved her Tuesday morning Bible Study at Parkland Baptist Church and attending Sunday morning services there.
The family always took a vacation to the mountains where they camped out in tents and cooked on a campfire. When the grandchildren came along, Ben and Gladys took each of them on a fishing trip each year to various lakes in New Mexico. After Ben retired, they spent several winters in East Texas. In later years, they spent a week at Tres Rios with their daughters, soninlaws, grandchildren and later great grandchildren. Recently she had the joy of holding her newborn twin greatgreat grandchildren who were born June 27, 2014.
Gladys was a loving mother, grandmother, greatgrandmother, and aunt to her family and will be greatly missed by all.
Survivors include her daughters, Joyce Byrd, Clovis, Donna Jack Donahey of Pleasant Hill and Bennie Earl Woods, of Portales, seven grandchildren, Ronald Byrd, Clayton Byrd, Rick Woods, Lyndon Donahey, Kerri Cagle, Martin Woods and Jeff Woods, nine great grandchildren and seven greatgreat grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Ben, two grandsons, David Byrd and Douglas Woods, six brothers and five sisters.
In lieu of flowers the family has asked to please make donations to the Parkland Baptist Building Fund.