Elizabeth Ann Gleason Mayland

This is for my Mother. She was born Elizabeth Anna Gleason in Sunbury, Pennsylvania on June 26th, 1920. As an adult, she was often called “Glea.”

What was her family like? ~

Her father, Hubert Sanford Gleason, was college educated but worked as a baggage supervisor for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Those were tough times to raise a large family. Her Mother, Mary Grace Riegel, had been previously married and was a former school teacher. Elizabeth had two half-brothers- George and John Wentzel, five brothers- Joe, Albert, Wayne, Eugene who died as a child, Stanley, and a sister- Hanni. All are departed now.

Was she married? ~

Well, of course. She married my father, Lawrence Paul Mayland, originally from Los Angeles, California, at Bergstrom Army-Air Field, near Austin, Texas, on the 22nd of September 1945. She was his loving and faithful wife for over 65 years. He was a career Air Force officer. He died last year. Elizabeth met Lawrence while she served as an Army combat nurse in WW II. Her wartime service took her into France and Germany. She assisted in surgeries.

Our Mother was a fine example of the military officer’s wife. They have an often unheralded role in support of their husband’s careers. Apart from promoting unity and cohesiveness in military social circles, they perform other valuable services. Elizabeth oversaw and promoted charity functions of the Officers‘ Wives Clubs. She headed a base nursery. Often she volunteered as a nurse in schools her children attended. This was in addition to raising and educating her children, keeping a spotless house, maintaining the household, and keeping us kids out of Dad’s hair.

Her Education? Travels? Other Work? ~

She graduated from a nursing school in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania before enlisting and serving as a 2nd Lieutenant. Elizabeth used her G.I. Bill benefits to graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from Brigham Young University. Tours of duty with her husband took her overseas to Japan and Turkey. Stateside posts saw them in Washington State, Alabama twice, Virginia twice, and Pennsylvania. After Lawrence retired as a Colonel in the early seventies, she worked in the Pediatrics Unit of Brackenridge Hospital, Austin, Texas for ten years.

She was Mormon? ~

She was a convert to and a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. For most of the last forty years she was a member of the Walnut Creek Ward of the Austin, Texas Stake. Her faith meant a lot to her. She lived her life as she believed God, Christ and her Church wanted her to. She served as head of the local LDS genealogical library for many years.

She had children? ~

Yes, she raised four children- three sons, Larry, Martin, and Paul, and a daughter, Lori. We are all near or over fifty now. There is not a black sheep among us and, although we are all probably tinted a light gray, none of us are fugitives, prisoners, or politicians. Lori and her husband, John Gumnick, blessed our Mother with three granddaughters, Sarah, Emily, and Rebecca. All three are teenagers now. They are bright, precious, and precocious.

What else would you like to say of her? ~

Our mother raised us to be good decent people. She set the bar high by example but allowed us to travel our own paths. She taught us to be humble, honest at our cores, and to have compassion for others. She provided us with sound moral bearings. To us and others, our Mother was known for being thoughtful, kind, loving, and even-tempered. She was always a hard worker. While she was not particularly funny, she appreciated good humor in others. Each of her children enjoys a broad, sometimes offbeat, sense of humor. Dad was like that, too. Elizabeth was known in her neighborhood as the “Camellia Lady.” Early each spring season she enjoyed distributing pink blossoms, which grew in profusion in her backyard, to friends, neighbors, and a nearby convalescent home. When asked how she was, she often said “Can’t complain.” She really couldn’t. It wasn’t in her nature. Even to the end.

And that happened how? ~

Elizabeth had been succumbing to the effects of diabetes and dementia for several years. Her mind was slowly being stolen from us in bits and pieces. Even so, she was mostly cheerful in spite of needing the kind of constant care that a nursing home can provide. For most of the last two years, she was a resident of the Oakland Manor Nursing Center of Giddings, Texas. A couple of months ago she broke a leg. Ninety year old bodies don’t heal very quickly. That seemed to accelerate her downward spiral. We think that at some level she decided it was time to go and be with her Heavenly Father. Though we feel acutely our loss, we think her passing is a blessing. She had done her work here. She had done it to the best of her ability.

Where will she rest? ~

Elizabeth will be buried in Witmer’s Cemetery East, not far from her birthplace, near Verdilla, Pennsylvania on Thursday, May 31st at 10:30 in the morning. I understand that the grave will be dug by hand and tended by an Amish family. There are four generations of her family buried there including both her parents, two brothers, and her sister. We would like to thank the Cook-Walden Capital Parks Funeral Home in Pflugerville, Texas and the V.L. Seebold Funeral Home of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania for their help at this time. We hope she will be buried with her feet to the east so that, at the Resurrection, the first thing she will see is the rising sun. We’ve decided to bury her with sunglasses. She’ll be the coolest person there! We are also including a portion of her husband’s ashes in the casket.

This isn’t your typical obituary, is it? ~

I guess not. We are grieving but we are also celebrating our Mother’s life. She deserves all the fierce reverence we can muster. She was a great Mom! I don’t think I’m going to like being an orphan.