MEREDITH ANDERSON | senior staff writer
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courtesy of Chapel Programs
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| "At 86, she related so well with little ones and college women—she had a unique gift," said Gordan Coulter of Gladys. |
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This past Sunday, the little ones at Neighborhood Christian Fellowship were without their beloved Sunday school teacher, Miss Gladys. Among this class were third-generation students of the well-loved and admired Gladys Wilson, mother, grandmother, mentor, friend and icon. Gladys passed away Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009 after suffering a stroke two weeks prior. She was just a few weeks shy of her 86th birthday.
Gladys is known for pioneering the Heart to Heart program where APU women are paired up with mentors to provide support, friendship and discipleship. She headed up this ministry from her joint office in Student Life for almost 20 years; her last day was the Thursday—the day before her stroke.
Gladys worked at APU for 24 years in total was asked by Jon Wallace in 1990 to head up Heart to Heart full-time.
When he was asked how long Gladys had been at APU, President Jon Wallace paused and said, “She has always just been here. It is less important how long she has been here but just that she was here.”
According to President Wallace, we will all end up working for Gladys Wilson one day.
“She was a widow with little or no money and all she did was get up every morning and give herself away,” Wallace said. “She was always asking for money for the girls in the program. If you gave Gladys any amount of money for the program it was like God watered it and it would explode.”
His fondest memory of her illustrates her determination. Wallace promised her if she needed anything to let him know—she held him to his word. She had asked him for enough money to do a breakfast for her mentors and students and requested he attend so they could thank him for his contribution.
“It was standing room only. After they thanked me, she gave me a request for the next year’s funding [in front of everyone]. She had increased it slightly. Then she said, ‘Now before you leave—you have to give us your answer,’” Wallace said.
For Gladys, Heart to Heart was about more than sharing life and mentorship; it was about helping students grow in their faith and walk with Christ, according to Associate Director of Estate Planning Dennette Miramontes, a close friend and prayer partner of Gladys’.
“She’d said, ‘It’s my life to come to APU.’ It’s what she lived for,” Miramontes said.
Miramontes assisted Gladys with the Heart to Heart program for the past 15 years.
“Gladys was really patient with students and loved them right where they were, some years taking up to six students herself if there weren’t enough mentors,” Miramontes said. “It was her heart that every student’s needs were met.”
In years past, Gladys rented the spare rooms in her house to APU students who needed a place to stay, according to Gladys’ friend of over 20 years, Elaine Baugus.
Baugus has been a Heart to Heart mentor from the beginning—even before Gladys took charge. The two were as close as family during Baugus’ 30 years as staff at APU.
“With Gladys, students would always get a wonderful listening ear, someone who prayed for them faithfully, loved them and understood them,” Baugus said.
Gladys loved basketball and the two women attended many APU basketball games together. Gladys also enjoyed watching baseball without the sound, visiting family in her home state for the fourth of July, music recitals, Lean Cuisine and low-fat ice cream.
“She had an infectious laugh and was a lot of fun to be with. She was one in a million,” Baugus said.
In her last two weeks while she was in the hospital, friends and family were able to come spend time with her.
Gladys and her husband, a pastor, moved to California to pastor the Arrow Highway Weslyan church, now known as the Neighborhood Christian Fellowship. She is survived by her three children and eight grandchildren. A widow of over 30 years, Gladys is now reunited with her husband.
“At 85, she related so well with little ones and college women—she had a unique gift,” pastor to Gladys for over thirty years and professor in the graduate theology department Gordan Coulter said.
Having taught Sunday school from her early teenage years, a couple years ago when Pastor Coulter tried to get her to take a break from teaching the toddler class, Gladys would hear none of it.
“That was the last time I broached the subject. Gladys defined faithfulness to Christ—she defined it,” Coulter said.
A memorial is being held Friday, Feb. 27 at 2 p.m. to honor and celebrate the life of Gladys Wilson. Students, staff, and faculty are encouraged to attend, and professors have been given to permission to suspend classes in order to do so.
Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Terry Franson said, “The ripple of her ministry has literally affected hundreds and thousands of lives at her time here at APU.”
