A graveside service for Gladys Newman Hartt, 94, of West Monroe, LA, formerly of Carthage, will be held at 1 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 12, 2015, at Walnut Grove Cemetery, approximately 6 miles west of Garrison, TX with Reverend Eddie Brown officiating under the direction of Jimerson-Lipsey Funeral Home. The family will receive friends from 10-11 a.m. on Monday morning at the funeral home and from 12 noon until 1 p.m. on Monday at Walnut Grove Baptist Church prior to the graveside service.

Gladys Newman Hartt was born on Oct. 17, 1920, and passed from this life following a brief illness on Saturday morning, Oct. 10, 2015, at Savannah Grand in West Monroe. Gladys would have celebrated her 95th birthday on Oct. 17. She was the oldest of five children born to Ora and Pearl Parrot Newman of Garrison, Texas. She graduated from Garrison High School and briefly attended college at Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, Texas.

Following her marriage to Oscar B. Hartt in 1941, Gladys devoted her time and energy to creating a home for her husband and their two sons. In early 1943, during World War II, Oscar B. left his young wife and their firstborn son, to serve his country in the U.S. Navy. For the next four years, Gladys raised young Chester alone while Oscar B. was away in the military. During her years as a wife and mother, Gladys taught Sunday school and read the Bible daily, took voice and guitar lessons, and later gathered genealogy information and contributed to a book on the history of the Newman family. In 1984, Gladys traveled through the heart of Europe with a group of fellow Texans on a trip that would become one of the highlights of her life.

During her lifetime, Gladys made contact time after time with handwritten cards and letters to family, friends, and former neighbors as she moved with Oscar B. and their sons to a half-dozen different places in Texas and Louisiana. You may read this and recall receiving a letter or a Christmas card from her that brought a smile to your face with the vivid descriptions of the events happening in her life. Gladys was known for her collection of books, especially the classics, and when she moved from Texas, had a library that filled many book shelves.

Much as she began her married life, Gladys spent her last years in Texas alone again. Her husband of 62 years developed Alzheimer's disease and spent his last five and a half years in a home for Alzheimer's. Gladys had a soft spot in her heart for animals and during the years she lived alone in Carthage, she rescued a number of stray neighborhood cats and enjoyed feeding them. Gladys had a strong will and lived her life with a motto from one of her favorite children's book about a frog that fell into a churn of milk and was unable to climb out, "Never give up. Keep on kicking!" Her family would lovingly say that she could fix anything using a twist tie and a safety pin.

Gladys is now reunited with her husband and most loyal supporter, Oscar Blackburn Hartt. She is predeceased by her parents, Ora and Pearl Parrot Newman and two brothers, James and Crosby Newman. She is survived by her children and grandchildren: Sons, Chester Hartt and wife Lanette of Cleveland, Texas, and Michael Hartt and wife Sondra of Monroe, Louisiana, Grandsons, David Hartt and wife Laura of West Monroe, Louisiana, and Stephen Hartt and wife Beth of Roswell, Georgia.

Great-granddaughters, Lauren Hartt and Madison Moreau of West Monroe, Louisiana, Great-grandson Sam and Great-granddaughter Leah Hartt of Roswell, Georgia, two sisters, Marian Moore and husband Deason of Lufkin, Texas and Mildred Stoddard and husband Al of Hemphill, Texas; and a large number of nieces and nephews.

Serving as pallbearers are her sons, Michael and Chester Hartt, her grandsons, David and Stephen Hartt. Honorary pallbearers are her brothers-in-law, Deason Moore and Al Stoddard.

Mrs. Hartt's family would like to thank the staff at Savannah Grand in West Monroe and the staff at Louisiana Hospice and Palliative Care in Monroe, especially RN Jennia Adams and Chaplin Ricky Baker for their loving care during the last weeks of Glady Newman Hartt's life.

The family requests no flowers. Memorials, if desired, may be made to the Panola County Humane Society in Carthage, Texas, Walnut Grove Cemetery Fund, or to your favorite charity.

A guestbook may be signed online at www.jimerson-lipsey.com.