Gladys (Dodson) Young

Gladys Selester Peggy Irene Dodson Young, our “Beloved Aunt Gladys”, entered her season of life September 18, 1924, and transitioned safely in the arms of Jesus, February 1, 2021, thus ending a season of 96 years. She was the third of five children born to the late William Charley and Fannie Phillips Dodson.

Gladys, as the middle child, loved the outdoors surrounded by nature and the farm animals, whom she read to quite often. Having a mother as a school teacher and an older sister Mavis Dodson Wilson trail blazing the best way to receive the education offered, Aunt Gladys developed an unquenchable thirst for education. She began her education at St. Olive Baptist Church grades 1-4 and completing grades 5-12 at Immanuel High School. Following in her sister’s footsteps, she attended AM&N(UAPB), Pine Bluff, AR receiving a B.S. in Elementary Education. She earned a Master of Education from Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.

Gladys did not stop her educational journey with her Master of Education Degree. She attended several other colleges/universities to further advance her quench of thirst for learning: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN; Ball State University, Muncie, IN; Howard University, Washington, D.C; and the University of Maryland, College Park, MD. After forty-one years of service in the field of education, Gladys retired from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Pine Bluff, AR, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Elementary/Early Childhood Education.

Gladys accepted Christ at an early age beginning her Christian walk at St. Olive Baptist Church, Dewitt, AR. She later joined First Missionary Baptist Church, Stuttgart, AR where she served as the Supervisor of Instruction in Church School, Director of the Adult Department, member of the Missionary Society, and the Director of the Family Life Center. She also studied Catholicism as a dutiful wife to her late husband Timothy Young.

Mrs. Young loved geography and traveling worldwide: riding a camel in Jerusalem, dipping in the river Jordan, sun bathing in the Caribbean, and cruising Alaska, to name a few adventures that she had.

As the matriarch, Aunt Gladys was also the pioneer historian and scribe of both the Phillips Family and Dodson Family Chronicles. A life member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Grand Prairie Historical Society, Kappa Delta Pi, and Phi Delta Kappa, Mrs. Young served her community at large.

Preceding her death are her parents William Charley & Fannie Phillips Dodson; husband Timothy Young; siblings Mavis Dodson Wilson (Harold), Charles F. Dodson (Earline), Anne Dodson Hampton (Cornell), and Hazel Dodson; nephew Wilfred (Buggs) Dodson; great nephew Brent Dodson; and more recently a niece Perrylyn Wilson-Robinson.

She leaves to cherish her memory nieces Judy K. Wilson-Murray, Peggy Diane Dodson, Sharon Denise Dodson, and Eleanore Dodson; nephews Cornell (Mickey) Hampton, Jr. (Marsha), Johnny R. Dodson, Mack R. Dodson, and Paul Robinson; great nieces Melika, Lakeesha (John), Candice, Jameca, Jamia, Amanda, and Chloe; great nephews Omar, Jamin, John and John Charles; great great nieces and nephews and great great great nieces and nephews; special cousins Alice Phillips Butler and Marbelean Carroll; and a host of other relatives and friends.

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