Gladys Ann Stockton Moore

1931 - 2021

GLADYS ANN STOCKTON MOORE

March 10, 1931 - August 16, 2021

Gladys Moore will be missed as the glue that held together family and friends. She always put others before herself and cared for everyone. Gladys was born March 10, 1931, in Taft, CA to Irving Stockton, of the pioneering Kern County Stockton and Engle Family, and Gladys Isabel (McClure) Stockton. As a young child, Gladys moved to Highland Park, Oildale, CA, where she attended Standard School. She graduated from Bakersfield High School in 1948 and then attended Bakersfield College for two years (on the same campus), before transferring to UCLA. In 1952, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in elementary education.

In February 1951, Gladys married Charles Francis Frank Moore in Bakersfield and, after a short time in Los Angeles so she could finish her degree, they returned to Bakersfield. They enjoyed nearly 65 years of marriage, travel, and crossword puzzles until his death in January 2016.

Charles joined the Navy in 1952 and Gladys started teaching. When her first pregnancy began to show while teaching first grade at Beardsley School, she took a leave from teaching to raise four childrenSheryl, Leah, Frank, and Linda before resuming teaching when her youngest was four years old, this time in the Bakersfield City School District. Gladys primarily taught kindergarten at Casa Loma and Horace Mann schools. She valued helping children start their education, and her students valued her. Many kept in touch long after her retirement in 1989. Gladys was an active member of Epsilon Sigma Alpha, a philanthropic service organization, for fifty years.

Charles and Gladys embarked on many adventures after retirement. They had trailers in Morro Bay and at Pine Flat Lake, took train tours, and traveled to Oregon to visit family. Family remained a constant focus and they loved nothing more than time spent with their children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.

Gladys died on August 16, 2021, after her declining health was further complicated by the long-term effects of COVID-19. She is preceded in death by her sisters, Floy (Jim) Ebaugh and Norma Thoms, and survived by her brother Irving (Emma) Stockton; her children, Sheryl (Sam) Sikola, Leah (Howard) Brilman, Frank (Rose) Moore, and Linda (Gary) McRae; grandchildren Brett (Alison) Sikola, Karen (Steve) Kovach, Larissa (Nick Grazulis) Brilman, Ian Brilman, Aaron (Lacey) Moore, Hannah Moore, and Kristopher McRae; and great grandchildren, Zoe and Zin Sikola. She is also survived by four step-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews she kept close to her heart.

A memorial will be held at the Engle-Stockton Cemetery on April 16, 2022, when we can celebrate her life and place her ashes next to her beloved husband. Donations can be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (www.stjude.org) or Mount Hood Kiwanis Camp (www.mhkc.org), a camp for the disabled well loved by her grandson.

The family would like to thank the team at Arcadia Family Care, as well as the dedicated caregivers -Vanessa, Cynthia, Donna, and Don - who so graciously and tirelessly cared for Gladys and Charles in their final years at home. You are our family, too.

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