Gladys Royse

Gladys (Hepper) Royse, 89 of Mandan, ND, was called to her eternal rest and reward on December 17, 2015. With certainty she will be happily reunited with her very much missed husband Homer, her parents, her sisters and brothers, and her very many other loved relatives and friends who have preceded her in death. The funeral service for Gladys is scheduled at 11:00 a.m. on Monday December 28, 2015, at the Evangel Assembly of God, 3225 N 14th Street, Bismarck, ND. There will be a visitation at Parkway Funeral Service, 2330 Tyler Parkway, Bismarck, ND, from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm on Sunday, December 27, 2015. Burial will be held at 2:00 pm Monday at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery, Mandan. Gladys was born on September 15, 1926, in Selfridge, ND, the 6th of eight children to Adolph and Lydia Hepper. Despite the hardship of living through the Great Depression she had a happy childhood, in a loving and supportive family, and graduated from high school in 1944. She grew up riding horses, chasing cows, and experiencing fully the bonds formed by the mutual struggles and successes of her family in maintaining and operating a family farm. She always noted how much she admired her own folks, who were well known as gentle and caring---traits which she and all her siblings inherited. After graduation she taught for two years in a one room country school near Selfridge and worked briefly at the State Capital before she met a young Kansas custom combiner named Homer Royse. Her life thereafter would never be the same and would always be an adventure. Homer and Gladys married on October 10, 1948 and shortly after started a family business which still survives to this day--- Royse's Watermelon Kingdom, now operating as Twin City Produce, and still located at the original location on the strip between Bismarck and Mandan. Over the 50 odd years that Homer and Gladys operated the business, which also included a trucking business, Gladys was the steady and reliable manager taking on the major responsibility of the marketing and operating side of the produce business while Homer concentrated on the trucking business. Other than her family and her faith, Mom's great joy was in meeting, greeting, and chatting with all her customers (her friends), even in her final years- she loved people and they were drawn to her. Gladys, our mother, grandmother, great grandmother, aunt, and friend to many, will always and forever be remembered. She will be remembered for her deep abiding faith in God (her granddaughter used to say that Grandma had a 'direct line to God' for whenever she needed help, she would call Grandma, Grandma would pray, and things would immediately get better), for her large heart and willingness to always think the best of people, and for her steady hand and clear thinking in times of adversity or troubles over the years. She loved to laugh. She was especially sensitive to other people and always insisted that all people be treated with understanding and respect. Gladys was preceded in death by her husband Homer, her sisters and brothers Rose (Fred) Jundt, Clara (Ross) McCreary, Olga (Clyde) Reed, Otto Hepper, Ann (Oscar) Grey-Adolph, Lorraine (Herb) Kiilsgaard, and an infant brother who died in childbirth. She is survived by her sons and daughters-in-law, Al Royse, Hillsborough, CA, and former daughter-in-law, Wanda Lowry Royse, San Mateo, CA, Ken and Kay Royse, Bismarck, ND, Roger and Daphne Royse, Palo Alto, CA, Byron and Taylor Denise Royse, Spokane, WA, and her daughter and son-in-law, Delores and Todd Castle, Bismarck, ND. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Jennifer (Brian) Royse O'Sullivan, New York, NY, Matthew Royse, Salt Lake City, UT, Dan Royse, Los Angeles, CA, James Royse, Taiwan, Suzy Royse, Seattle, WA, Elle Royse, Palo Alto, CA,, Katelyn Castle, Bismarck, ND, and Allison Castle, Bismarck, ND, and new great-grandson, Rory Homer O'Sullivan; and many nieces and nephews and brothers and sisters-in-laws. The family on behalf of Gladys thanks her many friends for all the kindness extended to her and the family over the years. In lieu of flowers, the family prefers memorials to either the American Heart Association or the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation(Minnesota Chapter).