Gladys Frayser Glass died at her home in Richmond on Saturday, August 19, 2017 after many years of battling kidney disease.

Her trust and faith in God and her reliance on her devoted family and caregivers were her strength to defy all odds many times when the medical prognosis was grave.

Mrs. Glass was born in Buckingham County on August 7, 1941 to Mazie Gough Catlett and Claude Frayser. At age 6 or 7 Gladys, or “Auntie,” as everyone called her, went to live with her sister and brother-in-law, Berta and Tommy Shumaker and their five children on the outskirts of Dillwyn. She helped them raise their family and to them she was more special than any aunt could ever be. She was a member of Dillwyn First Baptist Church. After completing high school, she moved to Richmond.

Prior to moving to Richmond, she worked at S. B. Pearson (Poole’s Store). In Richmond she did office work at DMV for a brief while but being a woman of style and flair, she went to work in clothing retail for Thalhimers and Miller & Rhoads. She later switched to interior design and helped her customers choose patterns and home furnishings. Often, to her delight and surprise, people from her hometown sought her assistance for their home décor. She also managed a small grocery store where she made many friends. Other endeavors included a small cleaning business with a friend and working in a school cafeteria. She loved seeing the children each day. Her life was always about children — everybody’s children. She made them feel loved and that their lives mattered. She cared about people and they could feel it.

Gladys kept in touch with many of her schoolmates even after she left Buckingham.

Beside her parents she was preceded in death by her husband, Fred A. Glass; her sisters, Margaret C. Dean, Frances C. Shumaker, Berta C. Shumaker, Elsie C. Salmon, and brothers, John Catlett, Garnett Catlett and Willie Catlett and a special nephew, Tommy G. Shumaker, Jr.

She is survived by a brother, Guy Frayser; a devoted and forever faithful nephew, Patrick T. Shumaker and Dottie; nephews Donald D. Shumaker (Beth) and Benjamin M. Shumaker (Betty); niece, Judy S. Meadows (Garland) and niece-in-law, Hilda W. Shumaker. She is also survived by many other nieces and nephews, friends galore and a dedicated and dear friend, Katherine Barrett.

Our hearts are sad and hurting but Heaven welcomed “Auntie.”

A graveside funeral service will be held on September 9, 2017 at 11 a.m. in the Dillwyn Town Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to the First Baptist Church Helping Hands, P O Box 32, Dillwyn, VA 23936. Dunkum Funeral Home, Dillwyn is serving the family.