Gladys Elaine Friesen

Gladys Elaine Friesen, age 71, of Mountain Lake, died on December 30, 2024, at Windom Area Health in Windom. Visitation will be on Sunday, January 5, 2025, from 2:00 pm until 4:00 pm at Sturm Funeral Home in Mountain Lake and will continue on Monday from 10:00 am until 11:00 am at Mountain Lake Alliance Church. Funeral service will be held at Mountain Lake Alliance Church, 809 5th Ave., Mountain Lake on Monday, January 6, 2025, at 11:00 am. After the service and luncheon, interment will be at First Mennonite Cemetery north of Butterfield, MN. Arrangements are with Sturm Funeral Home in Mountain Lake. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.sturmfh.com. Family prefers memorials be given to The Gideons International.

Gladys Elaine (Harder) Friesen was born in Glendive, Montana on December 25, 1953, to Leonard and Alice Harder. As a pastor's daughter she grew up in various parts of the country where her parents served the church including Alsen, North Dakota, Reedley, California, and Heston, Kansas. Gladys graduated from Berean Academy in Elbing, Kansas in 1972. She subsequently attended Grace College of the Bible in Omaha, Nebraska, where she later worked in the business office and Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs. During this period of time her parents were called to the First Mennonite church, North Butterfield where she was to meet her husband, Stan.

Gladys and Stan were married on July 19, 1980. They farmed all their lives together. Gladys enjoyed church activities, teaching Sunday school, singing in the choir and fellowship with many friends. She was a member of the Midway Township board for more than 20 years and an active member of the Tuesday Study Club in Mountain Lake. Together Gladys and Stan established a snack food company named after her, GladCorn, which they developed and operated for nearly 20 years. For several years Gladys raised chickens and ducks of a variety that appealed to the Asian immigrant community. Gladys then turned to dog breeding, Border Collies and Beagles. Her great delight in these enterprises was interaction with people who she quickly bonded with many of them.

Gladys was preceded in death by parents, Reverend Leonard and Alice Harder; parents-in-law, Arno J. and Mabel Friesen; sister, Pauline (Chuck) Myers; and niece, Sherry Harder. She is survived by her husband, Stanley Friesen; her siblings, Lloyd (Linda) Harder, Chuck and Connie Myers, Eloise (Edwin) Jordan, Edith (John) Klaassen, Wayne (Beverly) Harder, and Dale (Sandi) Harder; sister-in-law, Carolyn (Paul) Roth; brother-in-law, John C. Friesen; and many nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews.