Gladys Marie Koerner

Gladys Marie Koerner passed away peacefully on Thursday, January 22, 2009 at Hillside Manor Nursing Home in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, at the age of 81, surrounded with the love of her cherished family. She was born to Otto and Janet Loomans near Brandon, Wisconsin on August 24, 1927. Gladys touched many lives as wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, teacher, author, public speaker, and active church and community worker.

After graduating from Brandon High School, Gladys earned a degree in education from Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan. On June 22, 1950 she married Marvin P. Kooiman of Leota, Minnesota. Together they nurtured and raised eight children along with Marvin’s brother Orville Kooiman, until the untimely death of Marvin on November 1, 1965. On June 20, 1981 Gladys married Wilbert C. Koerner of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

Gladys was involved in Christian Education for 30 years, beginning her teaching career by teaching for several years at Southwest Christian School in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She taught for more than 25 years, either full or part time, at Waupun Christian School and Central Wisconsin Christian High School, in Waupun, Wisconsin. Gladys also wrote fifth grade Bible curriculum for Christian Schools International.

In addition, Gladys wrote and published two books: When Death Takes a Father and After the Flowers Have Gone. When Death Takes a Father shares her personal story and that of her family dealing with the loss of a husband and father. Using her personal experience with grief as well as extensive research on the stages of grief, Gladys became a public speaker and helped thousands of others go through that same process. She had many speaking engagements throughout the country and also was a guest on a television show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She also was the leader of a local widow/widowers group.

Gladys was an active member of the Klompenfest committee and coauthored and directed the Klompenfest pageant for several years in Waupun. She also led Bible studies at Fox Lake prison for seven years, and taught Sunday school classes at all age levels as well as the “Coffee Break” program for the churches she attended.

She is survived by her husband, Wilbert C. Koerner, her husband of twenty-seven years; eight children, Linda Pollesch of Kingston, WI (Dave); Emily Terpstra of Waupun, WI; Mari Kuhnle of Oxford, Mississippi (Roger); Judy Van Swol of Racine, WI (David); Howie Kooiman of Waupun, WI (Sandy); Merlin Kooiman of Fort Collins, Colorado (Laurie); David Kooiman of Brandon, WI (Evonne); and Jerry Kooiman of Grand Rapids, MI (Maribeth). Gladys is also survived by four stepchildren, Karen Smith of Elkhorn, WI (Dan); Kristine Koerner of Waupun, WI; George Koerner of Beaver Dam, WI; and Richard Koerner of Davenport, Iowa; 22 grandchildren; 3 step grandchildren; 7 great-grandchildren; 2 step great-grandchildren; and her two sisters, Junice Kok and Marlene Kraintz.

Gladys was preceded in death by her parents; her first husband, Marvin P. Kooiman, and his brother Orville.