Gladys Coster
courtesy photo
Gladys Coster
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA — Gladys was born on April 8, 1931, in Polson, to Lloyd and Magna Harris. She had a brother, Donald, who was four years her senior. Gladys grew up in Polson, graduated from high school in 1949, and attended and received her degree in Home Economics and Music from Montana State University, in Missoula. Gladys taught school in Ronan for two years.
In 1955, Gladys married her high school sweetheart, Barney Coster, in Tokyo, Japan, where he was stationed with the U.S. Air Force. Gladys and Barney returned to Montana a year later ,where Barney resumed his career with the U.S. Forest Service. Barney’s career took Gladys and their family to Alaska in 1959, where they lived in Juneau, Sitka and Anchorage until 1976.
Throughout her time in Alaska, Gladys worked as a correspondence teacher, and an adult education and substitute teacher. But, she considered her most important job to be raising her three daughters, Cyd, Julia, and Mary, and supporting Barney in his Forest Service career. After living in Alaska for eighteen years, Barney’s work took Gladys and their family to Washington D.C., Montana, and finally Redding, California, where Barney retired in 1984. Gladys lived in Redding until 2007, when she made a final move back to Anchorage, Alaska, to be with her daughters, Cyd and Julia.
Gladys had an adventurous spirit and undaunted enthusiasm. She embraced her numerous moves to new locales with curiosity and excitement. For her, these moves were opportunities to make friends and explore new surroundings. Gladys was a loving mother and wife, gracious hostess and gourmet cook, and loyal and fun friend. She was a lifelong bridge and pinochle player. Barney teased her, saying she had majored in bridge in college. Gladys was a happy person, had a wonderful sense of humor, unfaltering optimism and faith, and always had a kind word for everyone. She is dearly missed.
