The Odessa Record - Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!

Gladys Riehle

May 19, 1924 – Dec. 26, 2022

Gladys was born in Lancaster, Wash. on May 19, 1924 to S. A. and Elizabeth Johnson. She weighed less than three pounds, and her first bed was a shoe box. When she was five days old, her mother, Elizabeth, died. Gladys was then adopted by Elizabeth's brother, William (Bill) Alfred Birdsell and his wife, Delia (Martz).

Gladys was saved as a girl at the St. John Christian Church. She could be a bit of a jokester. One April Fool's Day she put cardboard in her Dad's sandwich. Also, during a high school dance Gladys and a friend hid in the back o...