Gladys Rebecca Sylvester

Mrs. Gladys Rebecca Sylvester, age 89, passed away September 11, 2022 at her residence. She was predeceased by her husband of sixty years, William A. (Bill) Sylvester, her parents, Velpo Foust, Sr. and Gladys Clark Foust, sister and brother-in-law, Betty and Harold Talley, and her brother, Velpo (Sonny) Faust, Jr. She is survived by sisters-in-law, Tommye Faust and Anne Sylvester Gruye’, and three generations of nieces and nephews.

Mrs. Sylvester was born and raised in the small community of Rosa, Alabama. A graduate of Cleveland High School and Auburn University, she began her teaching career in Pensacola, Florida, where she met her future husband who was stationed there with the United States Marine Corps in flight training school. They were married in Kingsville, Texas, in 1958. When Mr. Sylvester left the USMC in 1959 to move to Bethesda, Maryland to begin his engineering career with a company involved in the NASA Space Program, Mrs. Sylvester continued her teaching career there. Teaching English and social studies to junior high students whose parents were often quite involved in the US Government sparked an interest which led her to fill many hours of her free time attending live sessions of Congressional and Senate proceedings. Later in life, career moves took Mrs. Sylvester and her husband to Arizona and then to California. During these years, she co-owned a business and served as a financial planner and stock advisor. After retirement in 1999, Mr. and Mrs. Sylvester moved to Alabama, living first in Vestavia and then in Homewood. One activity Mrs. Sylvester enjoyed was her participation at the local, state and national levels of The League of Women Voters in Arizona, California and Alabama.

Memorials may be made to any organization that supports the welfare and care of animals. Suggested recipients would be to the Mandy Faust Scholarship Fund at the Alabama Wildlife Center in Pelham, Alabama, or the Alabama Humane Society.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.ridoutsvalleychapel.com for the Sylvester family.