Gladys Marie (Goodman) Mixson Chambers

May 3, 1922February 14, 1982

 

a lover of children, people and fishing and story teller”

 

 

Gladys Marie (Goodman) Mixson Chambers is remembered as sister, wife, mother, step-mother and grandmother as well as cousin, aunt and dear friend.  Gladys grew up in and around Lakeland, Florida, and went to Kathleen High School.  She went to school and got her book learning but she learned most about life around home-she was a country girl who loved all living things.

 

Gladys and sister Joyce used to play together a lot.  One job they had around the farm was to keep the birds from eating the berries in the strawberry patch.  I hear they used to pretend to build their houses at opposite ends of the rows of berries-then they would go visit each other; they had to have something to do-the birds stayed away while they were there.  One time they became bored. Gladys had the gun and they went down to the pond to shoot ducks.  Don’t know if they shot any ducks but when they returned to the patch, the birds were having a field day.  Yeah, their Pa got mad at them-but they probably learned a lesson in responsibility.

 

In those formative years she learned to shoot and fish.  I hear tell that if she left the house with ten shells, she’d return with ten squirrels-and one time she got two with one shot!  Annie Oakley, watch out!

 

She really enjoyed fishing.  It seems she must have known just how to hold here mouth or spit on the hook to attract fish.  Whatever she did, she must have done it right because if anyone was going to catch a fish, it was her.  In the later years she wanted to give her love and enthusiasm for fishing over to the children and grandchildren.  You remember, Gladys was always one to share her joy.  I have heard that she would even give her rod to the children when she hooked a fish so that they could have the joy of pulling one in themselves.

 

She loved children, everybody’s children; she’d feed them, wash them and take them to Sunday School with her.  Gladys once told me while she was in the hospital that some of her grandchildren had asked her to take them riding on the tractor, down into the pasture to see the cows.  Gladys wanted to go just as much as the kids did-she loved to share their happiness.  How many times did she drop what she was doing to go outside and play with the children.  I think Gladys must have been an eternal child in that sense-what love for kids.

 

She married J. C. Mixson and they had two sons born of their marriage, James and Wayne.  They lost their dad in 1965 to cancer. But they all kept on; their world didn’t turn sour.

 

Gladys not only was a homemaker and farmer but she also worked outside the home.  She packed fruit for a while-her hands got awful sore.  She worked at the Tradewinds Restaurant for a while.  Wherever she sent, she always made friends, friends of the lasting kind.

 

One day she went to work for the U.S. Post Office.  That just gave her more opportunity to meet more people and to spread her love out all the more.  She seemed to have an inexhaustible supply.  People still remember the very personal care she gave to their mail.  She always had a kind word, a listening ear and a bright outlook for the tomorrow.   What she enjoyed most about carrying the mail was meeting the people.

 

She and Jimmy Chambers were married over ten years ago. Jimmy’s four children became like her own.  Did you know that Gladys and Jimmy shared the same birthday-only the year was different to protect whoever was older.  That was smart of Jimmy-he never forgot here birthday!

 

Gladys was a great story teller-she could make a tale come alive for you- and the kids loved to hear them over again and again!  And the kid in us adults did too.

 

I hear that Gladys was a very loving but determined lady.  She and Jimmy both told me about the time they were trying to load a big bull into the back of the truck.  After the bull had pretty well demolished the loading gate, Jimmy was ready to call it quits for that day.  Gladys decided today was the day and it wasn’t long before that bull was loaded on the second try.  It wasn’t without its danger.  I asked her if she was ever afraid of getting behind an animal, twisting its tail and shoving it into a gate and up a ramp-animals that weighed two to five times her weight!  She told me meekly, “Yeah, she did get scared sometimes.”

 

Gladys enjoyed cooking-she had the knack of being able to make enough food appear at meal time as if by magic.  If anyone was around at meal time, she always had enough; she believed in sharing what they had.

 

I didn’t know until recently that Gladys was a camera bug.  She enjoyed taking pictures of especially  you know who-yep, the children. Even when they were gone home she still had them.

 

During those long days in the hospital, her days were brightened by flowers, visitors and family.  Especially important to her were the pictures on the walls-not Rembrandt’s or Da Vinci’s but the children’s pictures; pictures and words drawn with their deep affection for Grandma.  There was one that was put on the hallway door that stopped many people in the hallway-they had to stop and read it; one day it disappeared but it wasn’t long before another one appeared.  This is the second one.  It said: “There is a very wonderful, thoughtful, lovable, bright, beautiful person in this room.  So please be considerate while walking in.  Try no to slam doors, and please make your visit short.  She is our grandma and we love her!  Thank you, Mixsons.”  I haven’t figured it out yet how they created such a beautiful picture in simple art and words-but it was signed, Syd and Inky-that’s the dogs’ names!

 

All of this is to say, what a wonderful lady, what a beautiful person, what a genuine Christian.  She’ll be sorely missed.  She cared so much for so many others.

 

Amen and amen.

 

Obituary:  Gladys Marie Mixson Chambers of Shiloh died of cancer Sunday, February 14, 1982, at the North Florida Regional Hospital.  She was 59.  A native of Polk County, Florida, Mrs. Chambers come (sic) to Shiloh in 1940.  She was the wife of the late J. C. Mixon (sic), who died in 1965.  Mrs. Chambers was a homemaker and a longtime mail carrier for the U.S. Post Office in Micanopy.  She was a member of the Shiloh United Methodist Church, and past treasurer of the Sunday School.  Survivors include her husband, James “Jimmy” Chambers of Shiloh; four sisters, Eunice Costine, Joyce Sherrouse, Margaret Waters and Dolly Tillman, all of Lakeland; a brother, William (sic) Goodman of Callifornia; two sons, James Mixon (sic) of Cary, N.C. and Wayne Mixson of Apopka; two step-sons, Jimmy Chambers of Ocala and Alan Chambers of Citra; two step-daughters, Virginia Williams of McIntosh, and Cathy Huebner of Shiloh; five grandchildren, 12 step-grandchildren and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

 

                                                                                                                February 17, 1982

                                                                                                                Shiloh Community, Florida

 

 

Excerpted from “In Honor of  People Like Us”, V1,

By Dr. Kenneth V. Vickery

Vickery Books

3721 Bigelow Drive

Holiday, FL  34691

Note: Maiden name “Goodman” not in original text.