Gladys Marie Brinkley

On February 10, 1922, Gladys Marie Ogden Brinkley was born to Arthur Franklin Ogden, Sr. and Ida Mae Massey Ogden. Gladys passed away February 15, 2023. Her father, Arthur, said it was a sunny, crisp high plains day when the doctor delivered her. The one thing she remembers her mother, Ida, telling her about her first year was that she learned to walk in a cardboard box because Ida didn’t want her on the dirt floor of their dugout.

Her father, Arthur, moved his family to Oklahoma to work for his father at the end of Glady’s first year. During that fall Glady’s best girlfriend forever, Marjorie Irene, was born to Arthur and Ida. Even though Marj is in an assisted living facility in Amarillo, Texas and Gladys was at Lamar Estates, Marj and Gladys tried to talk every day.

The family moved back to the ranch the summer after Marj was born and lived in a two-room stone house that Arthur had built.

Gladys grew up as her father’s right-hand helper. She learned to ride, rope, and do whatever other chores her dad needed. It was a tough life, but it made her strong, resilient, and practical. Her dad believed she could do anything, and she tried not to disappoint.

In a few years, the girls were joined by their first brother, Dewey Price, “Bud”, Ogden and then quite a bit later by a second brother, Arthur Franklin Ogden, Jr., “Frank”. The family had by that time graduated to a real ranch house with two bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, and a living room. For all of them it would forever be “the old home place.”

Gladys, Marj, and the boys all attended Valley View, a one room schoolhouse not too far from the Ogden ranch that the local farmers and ranchers had built for their children. Marj and Gladys shared a pony, Baby Doll, to ride to school. Brother Bud finally inherited Baby Doll, and the girls took on bigger horses.

All the Ogden children went from the one room prairie school to Pritchett High School where each graduated. Gladys graduated from Pritchett in 1939 as class valedictorian. She would have loved to go to college, but the family didn’t have funds to send her, and they needed her help. Instead, her father got her a job at the Springfield AAA office. Her first job at the AAA office was to sort the files and get them back in order. It took some time, but she did the job and stayed on working at the office through much of 1944.

In Springfield, Gladys joined a lively group of young single women who took their jobs seriously but loved the social life they shared. They danced, played cards, dated boys from the local CCC camp and then soldiers, and they even formed a club. They moved a small log house from south of Springfield into Springfield to be their club house. The little house is still in Springfield. It is on the northeast side of Main Street near the current Springfield Community Building. Gladys served as one of the presidents of the club.

A year or so after Gladys moved to Springfield, Marj joined her to work at a bank.

On the ranch, the girls had shared, among other things, toys, secrets, chores, and horses and in Springfield they continued to share. They had an apartment together, they had a car together, and they even shared one boyfriend, Warren Brinkley. Warren asked Marj on a date first, but the major topic of conversation was whether Marj thought Gladys might go out with him. Marj famously said, “you better ask her yourself.” He did, and in 1944, Warren and Gladys were married. Marj married Roy Brinkley, Warren’s brother, in 1947. Now the sisters shared a last name in marriage.

The sisters also shared a wonderful set of in-laws, Brooks and Neoma Brinkley, and Warren and Roy’s sisters and brother, Ruby Davis, Nell Rose Fourtner and Jay Brinkley and families. There were, of course, the small annoyances that always arise in families, but it was a warm, loving group who enjoyed being together working, playing cards, and eating, especially in the summer making homemade ice cream.

After Warren left the Army/Air Force, Gladys resigned her position at the AAA office to become a full-time homemaker. With money she had saved from working, she brought a house in Pritchett across from the Pritchett Schools. Warren and Gladys made this house a home for almost seventy years. There was a small break when Warren was recalled to active duty during the Korean Conflict, and Gladys and their children went with him first to Texas, then to Florida and finally to Washington State. After almost seventy years, Warren and Gladys moved to Lamar to be near their son, Stan Brinkley and his wife, Ramona, and to receive assisted living care.

Gladys had many accomplishments during her married life. The three, however, that she was most proud of were serving God, being Warren’s full-time wife and helper and raising their two children, Jeri and Stan.

Gladys was a lifelong member of the Pritchett Church of God where she had, among other jobs, Sunday School Superintendent, Director of the Bible School, President of the Women’s Missionary Society and Church Treasurer.

It was probably easier being a worker in God’s church than helping Warren. She nursed him through several broken limbs, two or three serious surgeries, three knee replacements, and of course various serious illnesses. She was at his bedside reaching for his hand when he passed away January 5, 2015.

Gladys kept all the books and records for the family farm and tried hard not to complain when Warren forgot to tell her when he wrote a check from the one or two he always carried in his billfold. She always tried to have dinner ready on time and to cook those foods he loved, not always easy. Except for his on and off whims with food, she always appeared to know, even before he did, what he needed or wanted.

Even with her active commitments to the church and to her husband, she found time to be a wonderful mother to her two children and always supported them in all they did. She was always available to help her children with any projects they might have, including 4-H and FFA. During basketball season her kitchen was food central for Stan and his friends when they were getting ready to play basketball.

She was proud of her children and their accomplishments even though on occasion she wondered exactly how it would all turn out when both became lawyers. Jeraldine Kay Brinkley Davis was born in 1947 and Stanley Alan Brinkley was born in 1950. Jeri and her husband, Dwight, live near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Jeri retired as Senior Company Counsel for Wells Fargo National Bank. Stan and his wife Ramona live in Lamar where he continued to be a Colorado District Judge until December 2022 when he retired.

Gladys had other accomplishments during her life, including being head of the 1970 census for the Baca County district. She worked in the Pritchett Schools PTA and was a volunteer at the Baca County Hospital and for Meals on Wheels.

She was immensely proud of her three grandchildren, Krista Brinkley McDonald and her husband Jeff, Jason Brinkley and his wife Sara, and Marie (for her grandmother) “Tia” Davis Stebulis and her husband Michael and her nine great grandchildren, Katie, Meredith, Parker and Reid McDonald, Joshua and Jacob Brinkley and Madison, Preston, and Logan Stebulis. She loved her nieces and nephews whom she thought about often and talked to frequently.

Gladys had a full, happy life, loved by her family. She is now with God in his glory.