Gladys Brindle

BRINDLE, STOVER

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 3/11/2017 at 08:10:16

Gladys Brindle To Celebrate 100th Birthday On April 24

A very active and alert, Gladys (Stover) Brindle, joins the ranks of other centenarians on April 24. She attributes "God's grace" and "patience" for her long life--a century filled with more changes and advancements in civilization than any other previous century. Then asked if she ever expected to live 100 years, she quickly responded with an emphatic, "NO!" and then added that she thought her mother was "old" when she died at the age of 76; then, when her father died at the age of 96, she knew she'd "never make it that long!"

Gladys Stover was born April 24, 1899, at her parents' rural home south of Grundy Center. She was the third child of five born to Charles and Nellie (Boyer) Stover. Her three brothers and one sister are all deceased. She has lived more than 90 of her 100 years in Grundy County. She and her husband, Clark Brindle, recently observed their 76th wedding anniversary and they are currently living at The Sterling House in Marshalltown.

Clark Brindle and Gladys Stover were married in March, 1923, and they share the same birthday, except that Gladys is one year older. She will be 100 years of age and he will be 99 on April 24. The Brindles moved to their farm, which they still own, three miles northwest of Conrad shortly after their marriage. Here they raised their family and farmed for 44 years before building a new home and moving to Conrad. They are the parents of five children, Wallace and Marvin Brindle, Conrad; Marjorie Vint, Beaman; Frances Patterson, Gilman, and Eleanor Stromberg, Cincinnati, OH. The Brindles have 16 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

As a farmer's wife Gladys did the usual housework, sewed clothing for the family, grew large vegetable gardens, canned hundreds of jars of fruits and vegetables each year, raised chickens for meat and eggs, kept the house yard tidy, made certain the family attended Sunday School and church regularly, and tried to keep up with her children's activities.

Gladys remembers walking to school one and one-half miles from home with her siblings and thought nothing of the distance unless the weather was bad. On occasion her father took them to school with the aid of a horse and sleigh.

As a young girl and teenager, Gladys helped her mother with household chores which were much more difficult and time-consuming than in present times. Gladys doesn't think too highly of the "antique craze." She can't imagine why anyone would want antiques. She says, "I had to live with them--and it was not easy!" She grew up with none of the modern conveniences we take for granted today. There was no electricity which meant washing clothes by hand or by a "human-powered" machine; heating water on the cook stove for washing clothes and dishes and for bathing; carrying in wood or coal for the stove and taking out the ashes; getting ice for the "ice-box"; sweeping with a broom or dust mop and taking rugs out on the lawn and beating them to get the dirt and dust out of them; and, along with many more things, sewing was done by hand or by a manual machine. In her early years Gladys didn't know the luxury of indoor plumbing. Water was brought into the house in buckets. The sink and washtub were used for bathing. The "outhouse" was not pleasant, but was an accepted part of life.

Gladys remembers the work of getting ready to go away from home even for a short distance, because it meant hitching up a horse, bundling up in bad weather and the time-consuming trip. Going to Marshalltown or Grundy Center took most of the day. They couldn't make the trip very often, so they had to do "all the shopping they could" in one trip.

All the Stover children were musical and played musical instruments and sang together. Gladys' mother taught her to play the piano, which enabled her to give piano lessons later on. She traveled by horse and buggy to the homes of neighborhood children and gave them piano lessons. She began playing for her church when quite young and continued for many, many years. She still plays some, but mostly for her own enjoyment.

If anyone mentions Gladys' name in this vicinity, they usually think of her beautiful flower gardens. People have often told her they drove by her home to see her flowers. She was not only a good gardener, but could also make beautiful floral arrangements. She kept the sanctuary of her church adorned with her arrangements every summer. She often took several arrangements to flower shows and to the Grundy County Fair where she won many first place ribbons.

Mrs. Brindle keeps herself busy these days by reading, helping her husband, and tending her house plants and small seedlings she will soon plant outside. Her eyes really light up when a visitor knocks on her door. She enjoys hearing about the activities of others; and, of course, enjoys reminiscing about the past 100 years. Recently she was told that if she lives until the year 2000, she will have lived in three different centuries--the 19th, the 20th, and the 21st. After a moment she said, "Well, I guess you're right!"

The Brindles' children are hosting a birthday party for their parents, April 24, 2-3:30 p.m., at The Sterling House.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 22 April 1999, pg 5