Gladys Bring

Gladys Bring, age 95, died Wednesday, December 10, 2014, at Edgewood Vista in Fargo, ND. Gladys Vivian Melting was born June 8, 1919, in rural Galesburg, ND, where she grew up, attended school, married, raised a family and lived most of her years. As a young girl, she lived with her mother and the extended Lerfald family on their farmstead 2 miles east of town, walked to school most days and graduated from Galesburg High School in 1937 (class of two!). While in high school and after graduation, she worked for the Helen Bring family as a hired girl. She caught the eye of Helen’s son, Arden, and they were married on June 22, 1938. Gladys and Arden started their married life living with Arden’s brother Ralph and his wife Hazel on the Bring farm but soon purchased the farmstead where Jesse and Wendy Bring now live – 3 miles east of Galesburg. And there they raised their family. Gladys was an active farming partner, community advocate, and general “go-to” gal for church, school, home makers, scouts, senior citizens, county extension, and much more during her active life. She loved her life in that “house by the side of the road.” In 1965 and after countless years and thousands of dirty blue jeans, coffee pots, Samba games with the Severs and Paulsons, and home-made cookies, Arden and Gladys move to their new family-built home on the edge of town where they retired and lived and loved until Arden’s passing in 1993. Gladys continued to live there and stayed active in community life until 2008 when she told her family that she should move south, which brought her to Bethany Homes in Fargo and later to Edgewood Vista. She was baptized and a life-long member of Stordahl Lutheran Church in rural Galesburg. Her list of offices, awards and community involvements would be long and boastful, but the community and family will best remember Gladys as the crafty sewer and “heart pin lady” as evidenced by the thousands of personal craft gifts she loved to make and to freely give to friends and strangers alike. (Wear your pins to the funeral!) Gladys was preceded in death by her beloved parents Josie and Gust Rostad, her husband Arden, her daughter-in-law Connie Bring, two granddaughters and one great-granddaughter. She is survived by a cast of many, many friends and family who knew her and enjoyed her beautiful smile and friendly disposition. Included in that crowd would be her sons Duane (Diane), Lyle (Bonnie), and Curtis (Susan) and their combined nine grandchildren and spouses: Dawn (Don) Hawkinson, Richard Bring, Wendy (LeRoy) Kuntz, Jesse (Wendy) Bring, Jason Bring, William (Joanna) Bring, John (Jenny) Bring, Steve (Jill) Grove, and Kirsten Schenck. Also included are 24 great-grandchildren, and 1 great-great-grandchild and many cousins, nieces and nephews. The family requests memorials be designated to the Stordahl Cemetery Fund or Hospice of the Red River Valley. Visitation: Will be 5 – 7:00 PM with a 6:30 PM Public Prayer Service on Sunday, December 14, 2014 at the Baker Funeral Home Chapel and will resume one hour prior to the service at the church. Funeral Service: 10:30 AM Monday, December 15, 2014 at Elm River Lutheran Church in Galesburg, ND. Burial: Will be at 1:30 PM on Monday in the Stordahl Cemetery, Galesburg, ND.