Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home

GRAVESIDE COMMITTAL SERVICE
A graveside committal service will be held at 11:00 a.m., Friday, June 3, 2011, at Village Cemetery, Erin Street, Thomaston. Reverend Jackie Brannan will officiate.
THOMASTON - Gladys Forbus O'Neill passed away peacefully, Saturday, March 26, 2011, at the Knox Center for Long Term Care in Rockland, after a brief illness. She was nearly 102.
She was born Gladys Mildred Harrington in Thomaston, April 7, 1909 to Leroy and Alice Mank Harrington, the eldest of three daughters.
Gladys attended school at Thomaston Grammar and Rockland High School. She was employed as a bookkeeper at Rubenstein's Antique Shop.
In 1935, she married Sherwin Ray Forbus. Because Ray was an engineer for the Maine Central Railroad, the couple moved to Portland, and later to Scarborough. Gladys and Ray were members of the West Scarborough Methodist Church. After joining the church, Gladys lamented over what she could do to serve the Lord. One Sunday, she was asked to substitute as a teacher in the Sunday school. Even though she was very nervous, she really loved it and the children loved her. Thus began her 50 years of teaching church school. Many of her students kept in touch with her long after they were grown and married. Gladys became very active in other areas of the church as well. She spent much of her time serving in the women's group, "The Women's Society of Christian Service", now known as the United Methodist Women. She held the office of Secretary of Missionary Education and Service. She served as the Portland District Officer, and later became a conference officer. In 1960, she chaired the Maine Conference of Missions held at Colby College in Waterville.
Gladys and Ray moved to Venice, Florida in 1960, but even though they sold their home in Scarborough, they spent summers in their much-loved cottage on Brandy Pond in Naples, Maine, making the long drive from Florida to Maine each summer, until Ray's health declined. Their cottage was often the gathering place for family reunions. Gladys's niece, Jo Anne used to say that Gladys spent her summers in Naples and her winters in Venice.
Gladys and Ray joined the Grace United Methodist Church in Venice, where she continued her church work, especially teaching Sunday school.
For many years, Gladys took in sewing and alterations for people. She also bought a home organ and took organ lessons, later donating the organ to a church that needed one.
Ray passed away in 1987 after a long illness. Gladys lived alone in Venice for nine years, then married Frank O'Neill in 1996. Both sold their homes in South Venice and moved to a condo in Venice where they lived until Frank passed away in 2006.
Gladys moved to Thomaston, Maine in April 2007, to live with her younger sister, Dorothy. She joined the Federated Church, the church she had grown up in, and attended services regularly, even participating in the ladies group and helping at the church fair. She was a member of the Thomaston Senior Citizen's Group, and also looked forward every week to having her hair done by her friend, Shirley Wooster.
Gladys was predeceased by her first husband Sherwin R. Forbus; her second husband Frank O'Neill; her sister Madeline Baker; her half-sister Glenice Randall; two half-brothers, Leroy Harrington, Jr., Bernard (Jim) Sullivan, and her stepson Sherwin R. Sleeper.
Gladys is survived by her sister Dorothy Jameson of Thomaston; her half-sisters, Betty Peebles and her husband Larry of Westbrook, Barbara Angelopoulos of Waldoboro; her sister-in-law Dot Harrington of Washington; her daughter-in-law Eleanor Sleeper of Palm City, FL; six granddaughters, Christine Hatcher and husband Steve of Fallbrook, CA, Kathleen Talliere of Middleburg Heights, OH, Theresa Melendez and husband George of Great Falls, VA, Mary Beaghan and husband Tom of Waxhaw, NC, Andrea McCurdy and husband Shane, Pam Sleeper of Palm City FL; two grandsons, Brandt Sleeper and his wife Lisa Logan of Tucson, AZ, Stan Sleeper and his wife Alice of Fairmont, WV; several great-grandchildren; a nephew, Ronald Jameson and his wife Muriel of Beloit, Wisconsin; two nieces, Jo Anne Parker of St. George, Alice Cochran and her husband Harlan of Waldoboro; and many other nephews and nieces.
Visiting hours will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., Friday, April 1, 2011, at Burpee, Carpenter and Hutchins Funeral Home in Rockland. A Celebration of Life service will be held at 1:00 p.m., Saturday, April 2, 2011, at the Thomaston Federated Church.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Thomaston Federated Church, 8 Hyler Street, Thomaston ME 04861.