Gladys Emma Marie (née Ebert) Strauch, 102, of Maryville, Missouri, passed away at Oak Pointe on Saturday, November 11, 2023. Gladys was born to John and Emma (née Klute) Ebert near Westboro, Missouri, on October 17, 1921. She graduated from Westboro High School in 1939 and attended Northwest Missouri Teachers College. After graduating in 1943, she taught second grade at Eugene Field in Maryville for two years.

On May 28, 1944, she married Cleo Leonard Strauch at St. John’s Lutheran Church near Westboro. They celebrated 50 years of marriage in 1994 and Cleo passed away on July 10, 1994. Gladys played an active role in helping her husband farm near Wilcox, Missouri.

She was a member of Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church, Maryville, and St. John’s Lutheran Church, Westboro. She was active in LWML and enjoyed helping make quilts for the Orphan Grain Train projects at church. Gladys was a member of the Shell Grove Club, serving as president for many years. She was a leader in the Wilcox 4-H Club while her children were growing up and was an excellent seamstress, making quilts for all her grandchildren. She was also a member of Widow Persons and Mutual Betterment Society.

Gladys was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Cleo; infant twin daughters, Katherine Jane and Karen Ann; brothers, Arthur, Lester and Raymond Ebert; and daughter-in-law, Mary Strauch. Survivors include daughters, Judy (Frank) Leyhe, Broomfield, Colorado, and Rebecca (Richard) Hanna, Maryville; and son, John Strauch, Westboro; grandchildren, Scott (Kari) Johnson and Jeffrey Johnson, Stacy (Jeremy) Mason, Christy (David) Yaksic, Eric Hanna, Matthew (Marisa) Strauch, and Katherine LittleJohn; step-grandchildren, Betsy (David) Knight and Frank Leyhe, Jr.; great-grandchildren, Payton, Cleo Marie, and Samantha Johnson, Carter, Kennedy, and Pierce Strauch, Jenna and Jared Mason, Kendra and Joseph LittleJohn, Madelyn and Sydney Yaksic, and Zane Johnson; step-great-grandchildren, Allison, Maggie, Emma, and Jack Knight, Aaron Leyhe, Levi Germann, and Brayden Miller; nephew, Dr. R.C. (Judy) Ebert II, Pleasant Hill, Missouri; and nieces, Candice (Milton) Sullivan, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Mary Ann (Jim) Fisk, Gilbert, Arizona.

Services were held Tuesday, November 14, 2023, at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Westboro. The burial followed in the St. John’s Lutheran Church Cemetery. Memorials are suggested to the Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church, 931 S. Main St., Maryville, MO 64468, or to St. John’s Lutheran Church, 22192 State Highway B, Westboro, MO 64498. Services were under the direction of the Bram Funeral Home, Maryville.