Gladys Irene Anderson of Grand Marais passed away peacefully on May 30, 2019 at the age of 89 surrounded by family and friends. Gladys was the daughter of Anne and William (Joe) Love, born in Chicago on Dec 9, 1929. She was the oldest of three very close siblings, Violet (Corky) and her husband Bill Martinka and her baby brother Joseph and his wife Delores Love.
Gladys met the love of her life (Guyal Oliver Anderson) of Maple Hill at a dance on Navy Pier in Chicago shortly after World War II. They married on Sept. 9, 1950, making their home in Chicago for a time before building on the Gunflint Trail. Guyal was an avid fly fisherman and original partner in the Beaver House.
After selling his share of the business, he became a logger while Gladys became a beloved nurse at the North Shore hospital. Several generations of Cook County residents in the ’70s and ’80s knew Gladys as a nurse in the ER who made ambulance runs, helped deliver babies and cared for patients at the hospital.
Guyal and Gladys had four children; the oldest, Guyal Jr. sadly died of drowning at Mink Lake a few months after his father’s heart attack in 1988. His wife Marge and daughter Tracey Anderson survive him. Gladys’s other children, Arthur James Anderson, Doris Ann Lamoureux, and David Michael Anderson, David’s wife Julie Ann Anderson (Dykstra) and Doris’s son Nickolas James Lamoureux were all able to be with Gladys in the days before she passed.
Though heartbroken when she lost her husband and first-born son in 1988, Gladys went on to enjoy a long retirement traveling with friends and relatives. She was also quite a gambler and was happy to feed the slot machines in Grand Portage. No doubt their revenues will decrease with Gladys’s passing. Her other favorite activity was visiting the Senior Center in downtown Grand Marais. Gladys could often be found eagerly waiting on the porch for the morning bus, purse in hand, ready to go play cards and have lunch with friends.
Gladys was able to remain at home until May 23 when her health began to rapidly decline. Gladys was grateful that her former co-workers Linda Peterson, Cindy Donek, and the entire staff of the North Shore hospital were there for her. The entire Anderson family is eternally grateful they took such gentle and loving care of Gladys in her final days.
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