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Gladys C. Biffle

Former Steamboat Springs resident Gladys C. Biffle died Sept. 8, 2005, in Castle Rock. She was 96.

Gladys was born June 6, 1909, in Dayton, Ore., to George W. Stonebrink and Grace Ethel Edwards Stonebrink. Gladys was the oldest girl in a family of 14 children. The Stonebrinks moved to Union County, N.M., in 1920 with five wagons, a Model T and 40 horses.

Gladys married rancher Enoch Thomas Biffle on Aug. 19, 1933. They ranched together for more than 30 years in Union.



Back then, they shipped cream, sold eggs and raised a big garden to pay for groceries. They raised their four children, Cynthia Ann, Nathan George, Betty Christina and Enid Grace, on the ranch.

After Enoch died, Gladys traveled for a couple of years before returning to Clayton, N.M., where she started her second career in retail.



She loved to hunt for arrowheads and refinish antique furniture. She became known as Garage Sale Grandma. She found several pieces of antique furniture and glassware.

In her travels, she spent time in Steamboat Springs with her oldest daughter, Cynthia Ann, and Cynthia’s husband, Bill May. She lived on the May ranch on the Elk River. Gladys worked at the Montgomery Ward’s store on Main Street and made several friends there. Several of her brothers and sisters lived in Routt County.

Gladys sometimes took care of her grandchildren Scott, J.N., David and Grace Ann. She lived with her daughters Betty and Grace when they were going to school and working.

She later moved back to Clayton and traveled to Oregon to visit her Stonebrink family.

Gladys was preceded in death by her husband, Enoch; her parents, George and Grace; her brothers Harrold, Clarence, Scott, Clyde and Roy Stonebrink; and her sister Lulu Hampton.

She is survived by three daughters, Cynthia A. May and her husband, Bill, of Fruita, Betty M. Levesque of Castle Rock and Grace Foster and her husband, David, of Raton, N.M.; a son, Nathan G. Biffle and his wife, Zerelda, of Logan, N.M.; 13 grandchildren; 23 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren; four sisters, Viola Miller of Logan, Utah, Nina Borroz and her husband, Rusty, of Vancouver, Wash., Gene Hodges, and Fran Tessman and her husband, Dean, all of Newberg, Ore.; two brothers, Earl Stonebrink and his wife, Nancy, of Newberg and Berel Stonebrink and his wife, Peg, of Washougol, Wash.; a sister-in-law, Helen Stonebrink of Fruita; and several nieces and nephews.

A funeral service was held Sept. 12, 2005, at the First Methodist Church in Clayton, N.M., with the Rev. Kevin Phillips officiating. Her final resting place is at the Clayton Memorial Cemetery in Clayton.


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