Gladys Beechem

Gladys Caroline (Cline) Marie (Hobbs) Beechem, age 98, passed away at Rosedale Green nursing home, Latonia, KY.

Gladys grew up in Newport, KY, daughter of James Hobbs and Gladys Irene Harrison. In 1945, she met Tom Beechem while taking classes at Xavier University when she was 18 years old. They were married July 3, 1948 and initially began a family in Ft. Wright,KY (Ridgewood Rd) before moving to Montague Road in Park Hills, KY.

Gladys and Tom raised six children and became very involved in St. Agnes Church, Ft. Wright, KY, including RCIA, Bereavement Committee, Pre-Cana/wedding couple counseling, lay pastoral minister, liturgy planning and other volunteer activities. Gladys enjoyed going to Bluegrass Swim Club (Ft. Wright) and kept busy taking care of her home and children. Her children grew up to be a registered nurse, human resources executive at a bank, pharmacist, Chief Science Officer at a biotech company, CPA and school teacher.

Gladys was small in stature but mighty in so many ways. She loved the outdoors and being near the ocean or pool. Mom enjoyed sitting in the front yard underneath the magnolia tree and watching birds/wildlife. Tom and Gladys looked forward to going on vacations, including trips to England/Ireland, Colorado Springs, Gatlinburg, TN, but most of all, any trip to the ocean such as Rehobeth/Bethany Beach, DE and Outer Banks/Nags Head NC.

Gladys was close to her sister, Lee Kohrs, who was raising a rather large extended family of her own…10 children total if remembering correctly. Thus, when the Kohrs, Clines and Beechems got together during the 70s and 80s for an annual softball game on Memorial Day in Tower Park, Ft. Thomas, there were no issues in fielding two full teams with plenty of help on the bench available. Those picnics in Ft. Thomas were full of memories involving family and fun.

At age fifty-one, Gladys decided to enroll as a non-traditional student at NKU to get her college degree in teaching. Rather than beginning her career, Mom began spending time with fifteen grandchildren and seventeen great-grandchildren.

Gladys is survived by her children Mary Jo (Whelan), Joe, Beth (Krebs) and Brian, her sons-in-law Mike Whelan and Matt Krebs, daughters-in-law Nancy (Cochran) Beechem, Paula (Vordenberg) Beechem and Tammy (Williams) Beechem. Marianne Kremer was previously married to Tom, II (deceased).

Gladys was preceded in death by husband Tom, daughter Kathy and son-in-law Pete (Nadherny), son Tom, II, and great-grandson Joe Whelan.

Visitation will be held Wednesday December 10, 2025 at St. Agnes Church, 1680 Dixie Highway, Ft. Wright,KY 41011 from 10:30-11:15am, with funeral Mass following at 11:30am.

Donations in Gladys’ honor can be made to St. Therese Catholic School, attn Library (2516 Alexandria Pike, Southgate, KY 41071) or Joe Whelan Memorial Scholarship, https://impact.nku.edu/project/27090.

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