Gladys Guernsey

life story

A loving and supportive mother, grandmother and tia

This picture was taken on her 88th birthday.

In memory of Gladys Guernsey

Gladys was born in Laredo, TX on May 1, 1934. She lived life open-heartedly, raising her two daughters as a single parent, serving the US Government for more than 20 years, and volunteering and advocating for anyone who needed help.

Abuela Gladys was most proud of her daughters, raising them with her appreciation of the arts, adventure and service. Gladys loved playing cards and games, painting, knitting, embroidery, watching movies and theater, and supporting her grandkid sports and activities.

She loved to travel, sew, cook and watch Dancing with the Stars, Father Dowling mysteries and telenovelas such as Amor Real.

Gladys is preceded in death by her parents, 6 siblings and son Daniel Ramirez. She is survived by her daughters Yvonne Browning (John) and Joanna Ramirez (Hoss); her grandchildren Nick & Madi Browning, and Danny & Dylan Barrett; nieces, nephews and friends.

Joanna's eulogy: Thanks so much for coming to honor my mom, Gladys Guernsey. My mom was born in Laredo, Texas on May Day of 1934 to Eugene Joseph Guernsey (welsh and Irish) and Maria de Jesus Navarro

(Mexican/indigenous from the Chichimecas Tribe from Northern Mexico and South Texas)

They called Laredo a Texas gateway because it is one of the biggest cities on the Texas/Mexico Border.

Gifts she gave me:

She gave me -my name: when I was a teenager I would get so mad at her and tell her my name is Joanna and she would say “I named you, your name is Jo Ana” so I go by Joanna and say I do it out of respect for my mom

She gave me a love of travel- there is a picture of her in front of a cruise ship she went to Greece, she took me to Mexico and the pyramids when I graduated from high school and when Dylan was a baby, she came on several business trips with he and I to take care of him while i was working, I think she would have loved to travel more.

She gave me a love of the beach- I feel a connection to the beach/Yvonne lives by the beach- I have great memories of exploring the tide pools in Santa Cruz where we lived right across the street from Natural Bridges Park and going to the Gulf of Mexico with my Guernsey cousins

She gave me a love of dogs-growing up we had two dachshunds- Chula and Chiquita. Lola loved her so much- My mom was a dog person- Yvonne and I were talking last night about how my mom wasn't initially a cat person when we were growing up but later had a cat.

She also gave me the gift of group exercise: when I was in high school we started doing Jazzercise together- and I have been exercising with people ever since. I don’t think it is a coincidence that the group of friends I've been running with for almost 20 years - we met at a May Day celebration - her birthday- at the boys' elementary school.

As Yvonne said, she was a giver and taught me the importance of volunteering and Advocacy for others- she financially donated to St. Jude’s Children's Research Hospital and she also gave of her time to advocate for others.

When Mom moved to Mn from Texas in 2015 she lived in an apartment at Como by the lake. She made a friend who was from Spain and they spoke Spanish together and became fast friends. The apartments had a change of ownership and we’re going to stop accepting tenants who were getting public assistance including my mom’s friend so she joined a committee that started a letter writing campaign so that people wouldn’t get kicked out/ and they won!

I think one of the most important things she gave me was a belief in the power of prayer: when I was sorting and packing up her apartment I found laminated prayers all over the place and a Spanish prayer book with prayers for everything activity throughout the day.

Last night I was reading my eulogy to Hoss and Yvonne and saying I need a closing so I looked it up online and the article I found recommended speaking from the heart and suggesting a way you can honor my mom’s legacy. And I realized after a heart to heart with my sister that I was only telling part of the story, part of the truth. The truth was my mom and her siblings had a tough life.

Yvonne’s eulogy talked about the show Ramona and how important it was to my mom.

Three years ago Yvonne and I drove from Newport Beach to Hemet to see the play Ramona again since we hadn’t seen it since we were children- they called the story the Romeo and Juliet of the South West and I realized it was my mom’s parents' love story. Her father’s family disowned him for marrying my grandmother because she was Mexican and Indigenous. So my mom and her siblings had that loss of most of that side of their family- except for one aunt, Aunt Annie.

Her family also had the loss of her oldest brother who died in the war world war II at Christmas time which made Christmas a hard and sad time for her

Next her father died when she was I think 18 years old. She loved her dad, she told me stories of going to dances and he would wait up for her to get home and give her pie and icecream. My grandmother wasn’t very nice to her. I remember as a child going to visit my grandma with my mom and she always left crying because her mom had said something mean to her. She didn’t love cats because she told me her mom treated her cats better than she treated her.

My mom struggled with depression for my whole life, I think it was why I wanted to become a psychologist. She has postpartum depression after I was born that made it hard for her to care for me. What I didn’t know until later was that she had lost two children before my sister and I were born, my brother's Francisco and Daniel and was really afraid she was going to lose my sister and me as well. I don’t think she was ever able to fully grieve and heal from those losses or the loss of her dad and brother. Her mom and her siblings were not good with conflict, they would get mad at eachother and then stop talking to each other and then get back together without having resolved things and so it didn’t take much for them to get mad at eachother again. I wish things had been different and they had been better able to work through things and forgive each other.

Rev Toni is going to give us an opportunity to think about forgiveness. So one way you can honor my mom’s memory is to give yourself the gift of forgiveness if there is anyone in your life you want to consider forgiving and if there are any actions you want to think about taking to make that happen. I think that would be a great way to honor my mom’s legacy.

memorial service

Celebration of Life and Open House - Saturday

March 4, 2023

Unity Minneapolis 4000 Golden Valley Rd, Golden Valley, MN 55422, USA

The service will be in the Fillmore Room. The service will be in person AND virtual -- zoom link below! We are eager to share this celebration of life with our friends and family who can't be here in person.

Here is the zoom link for the service: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88597220033

A reception will follow at Joanna's house (1564 Fairmount Avenue, St Paul) from 5:30-8:00 pm. All are welcome to both occasions. We are so looking forward to celebrating Mom's beautiful life with you.

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