Obituaries: Gladys "Gladie" Mae (Peterson) DeVriendt

Gladys “Gladie” Mae (Peterson) DeVriendt, 82, passed away at Inter-Faith Care Center in Carlton on Oct. 22, 2020 with family by her side.

She was born October 28, 1937 in Saginaw, and raised on the family farmstead. She was a 1956 graduate of Brookston High School and later Carey-Gaspard School of Business in Duluth. Gladys married Henry DeVriendt Sr. on April 15, 1961 at Queen of Peace in Cloquet. Gladys enjoyed gardening, carpentry, baking, bowling, and especially being an Auntie and Grandma. Her career included working at North Shore Manufacturing, and as a nurse’s aide for St. Luke’s in Duluth, accountant/bookkeeper for Duluth Laundry and clerk at Duffy Motors in Carlton, and running the family gas station, Henry’s Skelly, in Carlton. In addition, she was a subsistence farmer, raising beef cattle and tending large gardens and cabbage fields while raising six children. She had significant involvement in helping to raise her eight grandchildren too. Gladys was a past member of St. Francis Catholic Church in Carlton, Scandinavian American Fraternity, and also volunteered for many years with the Wrenshall sports booster club.

Gladys was preceded in death by her son Paul DeVriendt; parents, Edwin H. and Odele (Jarvis) Peterson; father- and mother in-law, George and Mary DeVriendt; sisters Alverna (Eustace) Smith, Shirley (John) Dalton, June (Joseph) Likness and Marilyn Oakland; brothers Edwin L. and Raymond Peterson; in-laws Ralph Wallgren, William Anderson, Arthur Larsen Sr., John Duffy; and other precious relatives.

She is survived by her husband, Henry Sr .; children Henry Jr. (Lori Matheny) DeVriendt of Wrenshall, Victoria (Steven) Campbell of Cloquet, Nancy (Jason Johnson) DeVriendt of Carlton, Sally (Dawn LeDoux) DeVriendt of Carlton, and Kevin (Derrick Jones) DeVriendt of Wrenshall; grandchildren, Henry III “Hankie” (Callie) DeVriendt of Barnum, Michael (Megan) Campbell of Cloquet, Anthony Klassen of Carlton, Stephanie (Kelsey) Campbell of Duluth, Taylor (Malachi) Schubert of Mahtowa, Haily Klassen of Hibbing, and Nicholas and Carley DeVriendt-LeDoux of Carlton; great-grandchildren, Colten, Emma, Maya, Makayla, Maliyah and baby boy Campbell on the way; sisters Muriel “Molly” Wallgren, Kay Larsen, Ramona “Monie” (Gilbert) Ehnes, and Juanita “Nita” Anderson; brother LeRoy (Darla) Peterson; in-laws Loren Oakland, Joyce Peterson, and Lois Duffy; and many, many nieces and nephews and extended families.

Special thank-you to her Inter-Faith Care Center family. The special loving, compassionate, and dignified care for the past 5-plus years is appreciated. She loved you like family too. Thank you to St. Croix Hospice.

Visitation: 5-7 p.m. with a Rosary at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, and resuming 10 a.m. until the 11 a.m. funeral service Wednesday, Oct. 28, her birthday, all in the Atkins Northland Funeral Home, 801 14th St., Cloquet. Masks are required. The service may be heard from the funeral parking lot on FM 98.3. Burial will be in St. Francis Catholic Cemetery, Carlton. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank, 4503 Airpark Blvd, Duluth MN 55811, 727-5653. To sign the guestbook and offer an online tribute, see http://www.atkinsnorthlandfuneralhome.com.