Gladys June Burns

Born in 1922 to Samuel Coleman and Rene Dudley, Gladys spent her childhood in the farming community of King City. She lived there through her high school years, graduating from King City High in 1939.

Having attended San Jose State College, Gladys accepted — and thrived in — a job as a secretary at Moffett Field, the Naval air station near Sunnyvale. But after World War II ended, she decided to move to Carmel, where her parents had relocated.

Following in the footsteps of her father, who was a banker, Gladys began working for Wells Fargo at the branch on Alvarado Street in downtown Monterey. It was a professional choice that had a lasting impact on her personal life.

That's because Gladys' future husband worked as a salesman in a men's clothing store just a few blocks away on Monterey's main street. Only six months after being officially introduced on a blind date, John Burns and Gladys Coleman became husband and wife in a ceremony on Columbus Day in 1947.

With the arrival of "5 kids in 7 ½ years," a refrain that Gladys lovingly recited to family members for decades, the couple was quickly outgrowing their modest two-bedroom house in Pacific Grove. Selling their war bonds, they built a larger home on El Caminito del Sur above Monterey High School.

With John working six days a week in Charmak & Chandler, the clothing store the couple eventually purchased, Gladys was the quintessential homemaker — often single-handedly tending to the many needs of her and John's very large, energetic, and increasingly spirited family.

As a mother, Gladys was kind, caring, and engaging, with an almost endless supply of energy. As a wife, she was just as loving and also served as a critical bridge between her husband and their teenage children during the late 1960s and early '70s. Day in and day out, Gladys devoted herself to ensuring that her family would grow together rather than splinter apart over heated conversations about the Vietnam War, hippies and the free love movement, couples living together outside of marriage, and the emerging hard rock music scene. In fact, when the Monterey Pop Festival came to town in the Summer of Love in 1967, Gladys was willing — and curious enough herself — to attend the Sunday night show with her three youngest children.

In addition to raising a large family, Gladys found time to volunteer at her church, Saint Mary's by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Pacific Grove. For many years, she served in a leadership role in the church's thriving Thrift Store and was a stalwart at Saint Mary's annual antique fundraising event. She was also active for many years with the Children's Home Society, supporting families through a range of services.

Later in life, Gladys had more time to enjoy golf with her husband, other family members, and friends at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club; to play bridge with two women's groups; and to lose herself in home gardening.

Gladys also enjoyed cooking well into her senior years and was never afraid to concoct a new dish. And her family, friends, and visitors will surely recall that she was an enthusiastic shutterbug, snapping photos to memorialize any and all social gatherings.

In the last eight years of her life, Gladys lived in Santa Cruz, where she and John could be closer to family members. By then, her world had begun to shrink as she encountered the many challenges of Alzheimer's disease. But, even as her memory decreased, Gladys never forgot how to connect to people — with the easy smile, warmth, and grace that defined her personality. She remained a loving wife to John, her husband of more than 63 years, until the day he died — also at age 91 — two years ago.

Gladys is survived by two sons, Jim and Tom Burns of Santa Cruz; two daughters, Susan Overton of Berkeley and Melinda Burns of Playa del Carmen, Mexico; in-laws, Nancy Burns, Eileen Leary, Gloria Burns, and Peter Overton; ten grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Gladys was preceded in death by her son, Patrick, and her sister, Dorothy.

A memorial service for Gladys will be held on Saturday, February 9, at 1:00 p.m. in the church she loved, Saint Mary's Episcopal Church, at 146 12th Street in Pacific Grove.