Gladys Dee Towell was the fifth of thirteen children born to Armenta Rich and Greenlee Pennington in Ozark, Arkansas on September 20th, 1929 with her twin sister Goldie. tn 1941 she was baptized and always loved God. She would sing gospel music with her sisters. They lived in Springdale until 1942 when her father had a debilitating stroke due to the stresses of caring for his many children and saving the farm during the dust bowl. He was put into a care home, so a family friend told Armenta there was work out west. They took the three-day trip in a station wagon and Gladys would speak about how it was a difficult trip where they only had one apple each to last the entire trip. Once they were in California, Armenta only had seven dollars so in Ceres she found these little cabins and she begged the man to let her and her children stay for the night and she would go to get a job the next day to pay the rest. He had a good heart and couldn't let the children sleep in the cold, so he let them stay. Armenta did find a job at May's Café that next day! They lived in Ceres for four years until they bought a house on Connie way in Modesto. After moving to Modesto Gladys had to give up going to school, which she enjoyed and earned straight A's, because she had to help her mother support the family. She became a waitress at May's Café where her mother also worked and later, she went to work at Bluet's Ice Cream. Gladys always loved music and dancing, she had won many Jitterbug Contests. She met a charming musician named Marvin Steenburgh and they were married in 1951. They had one child together named Jason who was her pride and joy. While working at Bluet's she had a regular who was a contractor and he presented her with an offer to buy this brand-new home he was building. She told him there was no way she could afford the home, but he assured her she could. Her and Manain did buy it and she cherished her home, living in it for the rest of her years. When Jason was 11, he drew his mother a clown. She of course fell in love with it, so this started her love and collection of clowns. She kept her living room decorated with them until putting almost all of them away for the sake of her beloved great granddaughter who was scared by them. After divorcing Marvin, Gladys went to work at Gallo Glass where she worked for 30 years until her retirement. While at Gallo she made a lot of dear friends who she adored. She joined the bowling league and on her ball was the inscription "Happy Bottom" because her name is Gladys (Glad Ass) which is a testament to the kind of woman she was... hilarious. Her laugh could cheer up a whole town! Gladys had a strange power in which she could remove your warts and several of her Gallo friends had her remove theirs. She liked to knit and absolutely loved a good book, often staying up late reading. Gladys also enjoyed a good football game, 49ers all the way! She was a wonderful cook and loved to feed everyone who came to her home. Gladys did remarry to Thomas Towell but later divorced. Her first greatgrandchild from Tiffany, Jacob, gave her the nickname Doe Doe which stuck, and she absolutely adored being called that. She loved every single one of her grand and great grandchildren and held a special place in her heart for each of them. During her last years, Gladys
struggled with dementia and other health issues so her son and daughter in law took care of her, keeping her in her home, which she thanked him for on her last birthday. Gladys is survived by her sisters and brother, Nina Ferreia, Ruby Ward, Wendell Pennington, her son Jason Steenburgh and his wife Maribel, her granddaughters Tiffany, Jaime, and Julia Steenburgh, and her 5 great grandchildren.
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