Gladys Forrester
Apr 19, 2018Funeral services for Gladys Forrester will be held Tuesday, April 3, 2018 at Anderson-Clayton Bros. Funeral Home in Kemp with Rev. George Scott officiating.Gladys was born Aug. 9, 1913 in Winnsboro to parents Charles and Lou Ella (Blount) Pennington.From the very beginning of her life Gladys had a special sparkle and a smile that could light up a room. She lived every minute of her life to the fullest, spreading love and joy to everyone around her.After moving to Dallas in her early teens she attended Forest Avenue High School. She left before graduating to take a job sewing to take care of her family during the WWII era.As a young woman, she worked for Abraham Zapruder, as a seamstress in the Garment District of downtown Dallas. She helped her country by working at North American helping to build airplanes. They saw promise in her work and sent her to SMU to train in aircraft design. This education helped her to design the bomb lift and drop mechanism that was used on the P51 Mustang.After the war, she went back to her first love of sewing and was then married to James. Having no children, their love for their nieces and nephews was as deep as a parent’s. In 1947, they took their nephew C.R. along on their honeymoon to California in their new Studebaker Skylark.For many summers “Aunt Gladys” would take their nieces Janis and Cindy to the coast to see where “Uncle Jimmy” was working and taught them to swim and fish. Many weekends they would spend sleeping over and playing dress up in the princess dress that Gladys would make them.Her loving and giving heart knew no boundaries. Gladys loved her family and her flowers, she could put a stick in the ground and a lovely rose bush would bloom and thrive for decades.In the 1960s, Gladys and Jimmy (James) purchased property at Cedar Creek Lake, just outside of Seven Points where Gladys continued her sewing skills and Jimmy opened a cabinet shop.Her love for dancing led to co-founding the 49er’s club, of Cedar Creek Lake. She wanted a pla... (Malakoff News)
