Mrs. Gladys Culver

Gladys Culver

Mrs. Culver has been the constant of our Lake Webster experience from the very beginning. She now resides in a assisted living facility near Syracuse, IN, but she still graciously allows us the use of her yard for our Wiffleball field. Some of my earliest memories are of buying toys and candy at her general store and that building still stands and can be seen in some of our photos of us playing wiffleball. Mrs. Culver was born in 1910 and as of this writing (March 2015) she is still with us and as active as she can be. You can see a video of an interview conducted in 2014 here.

In the interview, Culver shares memories of her life in North Webster. Born Gladys Strombeck in 1910, she has lived all her life in North Webster until moving recently to Syracuse. Mrs. Culver graduated from North Webster High School in 1928 as salutatorian of her class. She went on to earn her teaching certificate from Ball State Teacher’s College (now Ball State University) and taught second grade at North Webster School for over 50 years.

Following retirement, she continued to volunteer at the school for many years. She and her husband, the late Arnold Culver, were married for 52 years and operated several businesses in the North Webster area including a mill and a grocery store. An accomplished pianist and organist, she continues to play for the residents of Miller Merry Manor where she resides. She is a special person and our very first “Lady of the Lake”.

UPDATE: Mrs. Gladys Culver passed away on July 17, 2016. She was 105 years old and all of us will miss her dearly.