Gladys Louise (Gwinnearth) Stewart, 96, passed away peacefully at home on Sunday Nov. 26th, surrounded by her loving family. Born in Somerville, MA on Nov. 7, 1921 at the family home, she was the third of four girls born to Godfrey and Margaret (Hilton) Gwinnearth. She and her sisters sang their way through the Depression, emulating the McGuire Sisters.
Gladys was a graduate of Somerville High School, class of 1939. After graduation, she was employed at Bigelow and Dowse, Co. as a clerk. She was proud that she could support herself and contribute to her family. A chance encounter on the Nantasket ferry with a sailor and his buddy in the summer of 1941 led to marriage in March of 1943.
Gladys married Richard L. Stewart, Sr., who made his career in the U.S Navy and was a proud Navy wife. She moved with her husband from Massachusetts to Florida to Brazil and back before settling in Sutton in 1955. Despite being a “city girl”, she started calling Sutton her home and embraced the wonderful life it had to offer.
Gladys’ first and favored work was as a homemaker, taking occasional work as a lunch lady or librarian to make her “mad money.” Still her greatest joy she had outside of the family was the work she did for her church, The First Congregational Church of Sutton. She worked tirelessly at fund raising for the Church’s kitchen. She was the resident “shopper” for the Church’s suppers. She prowled the warehouses along Water and Millbury Streets looking for bargains. She cooked as well, engaging and mentoring other church members in the work. She also was a longtime member of The Women’s Fellowship of the Church.
Gladys was married for 55 years to Richard Sr., who passed in June of 1998. She also is predeceased by her parents, Godfrey and Margaret, and her three sisters, Florence DiGrande, Evelyn Shaw and Irene Tiegen. “Aunt Irene” married the buddy from the Nantasket ferry. Gladys is survived by her four children, Jack B. Stewart and his wife Birta, Evelyn L. Spry, Dr. Richard L. Stewart, Jr. and Margaret R. Robbins and her husband, Dennis. She also leaves seven grandchildren; Andrew, Lee, Kara, Kelly, Heather, Hannah and Dennis and nine great- grandchildren, Ian, Kestra, Dylan, Indah, Lucas, Tyler, Erin, Alice and Brent.
The family wishes to thank her many brothers and sisters in the Church Family as well as the Worcester VNA Hospice, Elderwood Home Care, and numerous friends in the Sutton community for their support and love. Fair winds and following seas!
Family and friends will honor and remember Gladys’s life by gathering for calling hours on Thursday, Nov. 30th from 4 to 7 p.m. in Mulhane Home for Funerals, 45 N. Main Street in Millbury.
Her funeral service will be celebrated on Friday, Dec. 1st at 11 a.m. in the First Congregational of Sutton, 307 Boston Road. Burial will follow at Howard Cemetery, Sutton.
Flowers may be omitted, with contributions made to the First Congregational Church of Sutton c/o Church Kitchen Fund, 307 Boston Road, Sutton, MA 01590.