Gladys Nell Knight Franklin

1926 - 2024

Gladys Nell Knight Franklin

December 23, 1926 - February 13, 2024

Fort Worth, Texas - Gladys Nell Knight Franklin was born December 23, 1926, to Symiria Johnson and Jesse Waggoner in Nacogdoches, TX, where she attended E.J. Campbell public schools. In 1943, the family moved to Tyler, TX, where she attended and graduated from Emmett Scott High School, and where she met and married Bennie Lee Knight. To that union, eight children were born. After some time in Fort Worth, TX, in 1958, she moved to Galveston, TX, where she met and married Jerry Bernard Franklin. To that union, two children were born. In 1996, she adopted David George Rhett into the family.

In 1960, having relocated to Fort Worth, Gladys united with Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, led at that time by Rev. C.C. Carson, where she sang in the choir. She taught the Word of God in the Intermediate Girls Sunday School class and became Director of the Youth Department. In those capacities, she always taught kids to be kind and treat others as you would want to be treated, and she enjoyed helping young people develop their talents, such as singing in the choir, acting in plays, and reciting speeches. Her positive impact was felt by her former students well into adulthood.

Gladys also became an active member of the Elm Grove District Association and served as a secretary for Mission #1 for 43 years. When New Mt. Carmel Baptist Church organized in 1989 under the leadership Rev. R.A. Toliver, she was its first member and was instrumental in the church's establishment, serving as acting secretary and also as Church Historian – keeping records of all major events, including deaths, weddings, baptisms, and births – for 34 years. She was a very dedicated and active member and loved the Lord and her Pastor.

She was employed as a Cook for Drakes Cafeteria for several years. And for 35 years she supported the households of the Freese and Rutledge families, whose members particularly appreciated her cooking, keen mind, kindness, and down-to-earth, enjoyable presence. One Freese grandchild remarked that Gladys's attentive care for the elderly Freeses was exceptional. Another reflected that it is also fair to say that the significant public accomplishments of her employers were due, in some part, to the long-time, highly competent work Gladys did behind the scenes. In the last days of his life – perhaps as he also fully recognized the blessing of her decades of assistance – Simon Freese noted with gratitude in his journal, "Gladys was here today."

Nowhere was her loving presence more deeply felt than among her immediate and extended family. She is the mother of 10 children, 14 grandchildren, 37 great-grandchildren, and 7 great-great-grandchildren, as well as church Mother and Grandmother to many. Gladys raised her children up in the church and always prayed the Lord would allow her to live long enough to see what kind of adults her children would turn out to be. She cooked with love and loved to entertain family and friends. One of her favorite scripture verses is Psalm 37:23 - I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

She is preceded in her death by her children Michael Knight, Reginald Knight, Jessie Lindsey, and Barbara Phillips.

Gladys leaves to cherish her precious memories: her children Kenneth Knight, Sylvia Green (and Kenneth), Natalie Daniels, Deborah Omozusi (and Paul), Cathy Knight, Gregory Franklin, and David Rhett; her 14 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren, and 4 great-great-grandchildren; children special to her heart Diane Evans, Vickie Woods, and Michael Jarman; and a host of church members and friends.

A memorial service and celebration of the life of Gladys Nell Knight Franklin will be held Saturday February 24, 2024, at 11:00am at New Mt. Carmel Baptist Church 2600 E. Rosedale in Fort Worth.