Gladys Tholen

Gladys Tholen

Monticello

Gladys Tholen, 91, of Monticello, died Monday, Jan. 2, 2023, at her daughter’s home following a brief illness.

Funeral services will be held 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023, at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Monticello, with interment in the Oakwood Cemetery. Friends may call from 4 until 7 p.m. Friday at the Goettsch Funeral Home, Monticello. Pastor David Raemisch will officiate at the services. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. Matthew Lutheran Church or Camp Courageous.

Surviving are two daughters, Cynthia (Michael) Ingalls, Deborah Kuker; and two sisters, Betty Jacobs and Marion Rio. She was preceded in death by her parents; her sister, Patricia in 1966; and her husband, Duane in 1995; and son-in-law, Dennis Kuker.

Gladys Frieda Fass was born Nov. 20, 1931, in Lovell Township, Jones County, Iowa. She was the daughter of Albert and Marie Friedrichs, Fass. Gladys went to Lovell Township School #9 and #1 before going to high school in Monticello. She graduated with the Class of 1950 from the Monticello Community Schools. Gladys married Duane Tholen on Aug. 24, 1949 at the Little Brown Church, Nashua. The couple farmed on the Fass Family farm north of Monticello. She retired from active farming in 1995.

Gladys was a lifelong member of St. Matthew Lutheran Church where she was baptized on Dec. 16, 1931, and confirmed her faith on March 25, 1946. She also belonged to the St. Matthew Sewing Circle. Gladys was also active in the Federated Garden Club now the Forget-Me- Knots, attending her last meeting on Dec. 15, 2022. She enjoyed reading and crossword puzzles until her eyes failed her. Then her daughter Cynthia became her eyes, reading Gladys the Monticello Express every week and Our Iowa magazine every month. After Gladys moved to Cynthia’s they moved all her cookie baking pans and her cookie bowl with her and continued making cookies until Covid-19. Gladys was affectionately known as the “Cookie Lady.”