Gladys Bertha (Oechsle) Swope, 88, of Redfield, SD passed away Wednesday, August 7, 2019, at Community Memorial Hospital in Redfield. Her funeral service will be 10:30 a.m. on Monday, August 12, 2019, at the Redfield United Methodist Church. Reverend Marty Toepke-Floyd will officiate. Burial will follow at Greenlawn Cemetery in Redfield.

Visitation, with family present, will be Sunday, August 11, 2019, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Hyke Funeral Home in Redfield. A Prayer Service and time for remembering will begin at 7:00 p.m.  Arrangements have been entrusted to Hyke Funeral Home.  (www.hykefuneralhome.com)

In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully asks that donations be made to Make-A-Wish North Dakota or United Methodist Church of Redfield.

Gladys Bertha Oechsle was born November 26, 1930, to Hazel and LeRoy Oechsle, growing up on the family farm in Hitchcock. She loved doing outside chores and handling the horses. She graduated from Redfield High School. While Virgil Swope was serving our country as a Navy radar man, he corresponded with Gladys for over a year. When he returned from service, he finally met his pen-pal face to face. They were united in marriage on May 29, 1948.

After living on other area farms, the couple finally returned to the Swope family farmstead in 1958 and had made it their home with many memories. Their lives were filled with saddle club trails rides, raising cattle and Suffolk sheep, chicken, turkeys and other animals as well as growing grains and two children along the way. Gladys remained on the farm even after Virgil passed away. Although not in a field and a tractor, later in life she still enjoyed outdoor chores - mowing her yard and gardening. She was ever resourceful and often brought home generous scraps from town for the barn cats, her indoor feline friends, and her dog Junie.

Gladys rode off on her horse, Toffee, into God's beautiful sunset to join her favorite cowboy in life. She was loved by many and will be affectionately remembered as a sister, mother, grandmother, great-grandma, aunt, 4H leader, sheep-rancher, horse-rider, two-step waltzer, card-player, chicken-raiser, farmer, Western-watcher, friend and much more.

Family was important to Gladys. Grateful to have shared her life are daughter Rosetta (Dan) Dickerson; son David Swope; grandchildren: Billi (Marc) Zielinski; Kenny (Lena) Dickerson; Sara (Joseph) Von Kennel; Kristen (Derek) Louwagie; great-grandchildren: Aurek and Ruby Zielinski; Will, Lila, Dashel and Cole Louwagie; and Rayden and Emery Von Kennel.

Gladys was preceded in death by her parents, her beloved husband Virgil, and many siblings.