Gladys Spurr Tratebas, 95, of Nashville, passed away March 6, 2013 at Brown County Health and Living Center.

She was born Jan. 17, 1918 in Chicora, Mich. to Charles Joseph Spurr and Edith Bessie Russell. Gladys married Edmund Wyatt Tratebas on May 11, 1940 in Cook County, Ill. She earned a master’s degree in business education from  University of South Dakota in 1973 and retired from teaching at Dakota State College in Madison, S.D. in 1983. Gladys and Edmund moved to Nashville in December 1983.

Gladys was active in the Brown County Historical Society where she served a term as president and participated in living history demonstrations at the Pioneer Village Museum.  She received a service award in 1991 for editing the Brown County History Book. Gladys founded and was the first president of the local genealogical society. Her extensive genealogical research resulted in published volumes on the Tratebas, Spurr, and Barber families.

Gladys will be missed by her husband, Edmund Tratebas; son, Calvin Tratebas; and daughters Alice Tratebas, Patricia Tratebas, Mercure Volt, and Linda Korthals; as well as three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by two brothers, Charles and Harvey Spur;, and a daughter, Pauline Tratebas.

A memorial service will be conducted at Brown County Presbyterian Fellowship, 602 State Highway 135 in Nashville on Saturday, April 20 at 3 pm.

Gladys donated her remains to Indiana University Medical School in Indianapolis and her ashes will ultimately be buried in Greenlawn Cemetery, Nashville.