Gladys Quinn Small

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[A graveside memorial service will be presented for Gladys Quinn Small at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 26, 2008, at historic Bethel Creek Cemetery, Bethel Creek Road, Raleigh. Mrs. Small passed away May 26 at 102.

Mrs. Small was the daughter of Henry E. A. Quinn and Maud Braden Quinn of Raleigh. Their families had deep roots in Saline and Hamilton counties. She attended Galatia High School and graduated from Benton High School. She completed teacher certification at Southern Illinois University in 1925 and became an elementary school teacher at Harco, near Galatia.

She met fellow teacher Gilbert Small at a county teacher meeting in 1927, and they were married the following year. Mr. Small taught history and music at Harrisburg High School and the couple lived in Harrisburg. Mrs. Small worked at the Harrisburg Public Library. Around 1931, they moved to Chicago where he taught in the public schools. After their children were raised, she taught pre-school at the Chicago Latin School. They retired to the family farm outside Raleigh in 1968, and Mr. Small passed away in 1983. For the past 40 years Mrs. Small has lived in the home, where both she and her mother were born, built in the 1880s by her grandfather, James Braden.

Gladys Small was also preceded in death by her stepsisters, Blondel Limerick and Kathryn Mathis of Galatia, both teachers. She is survived by son Henry Small and his wife Lois of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., and their son Matthew of San Francisco, Calif. She is also survived by daughter Marilyn Small Erwin of Bethel Park, Pa., her daughters Heather Ball of Pleasant Hills, Pa., Sarah Erwin of Richmond Hill, N.Y., and Mrs. Small's two great-grandchildren, Braden Ball and Olivia Ball of Pleasant Hills, Pa.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be given in her memory to the Bethel Creek Cemetery Assoc., c/o Elizabeth Rittenberry, P.O. Box 143, Harrisburg, Ill. 62946, or to the Harrisburg Medical Center Foundation, Harrisburg, Ill., www.harrisburgmedicalcenter.com.

Sloan Funeral Home of Galatia is handling arrangements for the memorial service.