Gladys Mae Alford, 97, was born on April 19, 1927, in Fort Morgan, CO, to Irving and Helen Jensen, and passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, at East Morgan County Hospital on May 1, 2024.  She graduated Wiggins HS as valedictorian in 1945.  After high school, she married Harold Foos (Wiggins), where they lived and farmed on the Foos family farm. One of her most remembered stories is how she would need to go into the root cellar for canned food, and always had a shovel in her hands, to be ready to fend off a rattlesnake, often coiled above the entryway.

In the early 1950's, the small family moved to a farm in Fort Morgan, raising corn and livestock. Then a few years later, a family of eight, they moved to Hillrose, CO, where they raised and farmed sugarbeets. During harvest, she would go daily to work at the weigh station, weighing each haul that came through. She made many life-long friends throughout her life in Wiggins, Hillrose, and Brush, and kept close relationships with them all.

The family next moved to Brush, CO, where Gladys became an avid bowler, achieving many awards for perfect games. She started work as a nurse's aide at Sunset Manor in the mid-sixties and realized her love for caring for others. She became a single parent, went to NJC for her LPN license, and worked at East Morgan County Hospital until retirement.

Gladys married Chester Alford in 1975, and camping, fishing and gardening became a big part of her life. After they both retired, they made semi-annual trips to Alaska, bringing home canned salmon and their other treasures. They made regular trips to Oklahoma and Utah, bringing home pecans from Chester's family farm, and many fruits home from Chester's son George's (Verna) home in Utah and used these fruits for canning preserves. She also had another step-son, Joe (Dot), who live in Louisiana.

She was an ardent and intelligent reader, absorbing Civil War books, the Bible (reading through it's entirety twice), German-Russian immigration fictions/non-fictions, and many wildlife books. She was active in Bible Study and attended church at the Brush United Methodist Church. There wasn't a question asked about the Bible that she couldn't answer. She later attended church at the Eben Ezer Lutheran Church.

Gladys is survived by six children, Bob Foos, Plattsmouth, NE (Joyce Bishop),  Barbara Seago, Monument, CO (Loren), Gloria Zelinsky (ex - Mark), Lakewood, CO, Terry Foos, Brush, CO, Debbie Alexander, Omaha, NE, Shari Quillin, Thornton, CO (Kevin), one sister, Arlene Haarhues, Greeley, CO, 9 grandchildren,16 great-granchildren, one great-great-grandchild, 4 nephews, and 4 nieces. Preceding her in death are her parents, one sister and one brother, her husband, Chester, one daughter-in-law, one son-in-law, and 2 nephews.

A private family ceremony is being planned for a future date.