Obituary of Gladys Shultz

Funeral services for Gladys Shultz, age 90, will be held at the Spirit Lake United Methodist Church in Spirit Lake, Iowa. The date of the celebration is October 21, 2023; visitation - 9:00 am, celebration - 10:30, followed by burial at Lakeview Gardens, and a luncheon. Pastors Cindy Flinn and son Erling Shultz will officiate. Grandsons Miles and August Shultz will be the vocalists with daughter-in-law Barb Shultz as the organist. 

Gladys Myrtle Falck Shultz was born December 31, 1932 in Brooklyn, New York; to parents Erling Berge Ingebretson Falck and Gudrun Kornelia Nilsen Falck. Erling and Gudrun were Norwegian immigrants and the Norwegian culture was strong in Gladys’ childhood. Erling was a Methodist Episcopal Pastor and served churches in New York, New York; Corning, New York; Detroit, Michigan; and Lake Mills, Iowa. 

She received her high school diploma from Lake Mills High School, 1950. She earned a degree in Elementary Education from the Iowa State Teachers College,1953. 

Gladys met a young man, John Morrison Shultz, while both were spending the summer working at Lake Okoboji United Methodist Camp, Spirit Lake, Iowa. They were married November 19, 1953. She taught kindergarten in Sioux City while John was deployed to the Panama Canal. She continued teaching during the birth of Fred Mark in 1956 and became a stay at home mom when Nancy Marie arrived in 1958. The family moved to New Hampton, Iowa for John’s employment and Erling Matthew was born 1960. Another change in John’s work meant a move to Des Moines and there arrived Paul Morrison. The Shultz family of six moved several more times: Adel, Iowa Falls, and back to Adel. 

Gladys was very active in each United Methodist church they attended.. She often directed the children’s choir, was church organist, taught Sunday school, sponsored MYF groups with John, served on the Iowa Conference Board of Pensions, and served many years as an Iowa Annual Conference delegate. When all siblings were attending school, she began working as bookkeeper for the Dallas County Mental Health Center and continued in this employment until the death of John, 1995. 

She moved to Monarch Cove, 1996, formerly part of the Lake Okoboji United Methodist Camp, and resided there until moving to Ashbrook Assisted Living, Iowa Falls, October 2020. Her last home was at Homestead Memory Care in Estherville. While a resident of Monarch Cove, she worked as secretary/treasurer for the Property Owner’s Association. 

Gladys joined husband John, son Paul, parents Erling and Gudrun, and sister Doris in heaven early morning of October 9, 2023. Leaving behind children: Fred and Ellen Shultz, Nancy and Lyle Trow, Erling and Barb Shultz; grandchildren: Andrea, Cristi, Matthew, Beth, Miles, Sarah, Hannah, Tom, August, Nathan; great-grandchildren: Autumn, Austin, Eiseley, Alden, Brody, Arlo, Mason, Caden, Ryley, Solomon, Teddy.

Memorials in honor of Gladys can be given to United Methodist Church or the United Methodist Camp.

The funeral can be viewed through livestream using the following link: Spirit Lake United Methodist Church - YouTube