Dates

• Existence: 1899 - 1996

Biography

Gladys Vernette Madison was born on May 7, 1899 in Carl Township in Adams County, Iowa to Vira (Lawrence) and John Francis Madison. She had three sisters, Millie Louisa, Ileathie Frances, and Maxene Vivian. Little is known about her childhood, but according to her son, Gladys Madison attended school regularly as a child and completed the eighth grade. Throughout her life, she was very active in her church and community and as a rural homemaker.

On February 23, 1922, Gladys Madison married Charles Foote Homan (September 7, 1897- November 5, 1988). The Homans had two children, Delmar Charles (January 10, 1927- ) and a second son who died shortly after birth in July 1929. The Homans began their married life living in Gladys' family farm in Carl Township until February 26, 1929 when the couple moved to a small house on 80 acres adjoining the property of Charles Homan's maternal grandfather. Upon the death of this grandfather in 1936, Charles Homan purchased the 80 acres he and the family were living on and combined that acreage with his grandfather's to form Timberdale Stock Farm, with a total of 312 acres.

Gladys Homan was active in several community groups and women's clubs. She was a charter member of the Friendship Club in 1939 and held various offices and remained active in that club and the Corning Departmental Club until the early 1990s. Homan was also a member of the Adams County Girls 4-H Committee and served as County Committee Chair in 1958 and 1959. She also served on the Adams County Tuberculosis and Health Board for over twenty-five years, during which she also served a term as the chair of the board. She was honored as Rural Homemaker of the Year in 1948 by the Farm Bureau County Women's Committee, of which she served as chair.

Gladys Homan had been baptized into the Baptist Church on April 16, 1911 (Easter Sunday) in the Nodaway River, near Mt. Etna, Iowa, and remained active in church activities through her life. She was the church secretary in 1918 and also a deaconess in the Adams County Baptist Church until the church closed. Thereafter, she was active in the Corning First Baptist Church, serving for many years as the Sunday School Superintendent and a member of the Baptist Women's Club. After the closing of the Corning First Baptist Church, the Homans attended the Corning Methodist Church.

Charles Homan was supportive of his wife's active community life, and himself participated in community and church affairs as a member of the Farmers' Cooperative Creamery Board in Corning, Iowa and deacon and adult Sunday School teacher at both churches the family attended. The Homans also participated in community plays.

Gladys Homan lived on Timberdale and remained interested in community affairs from 1936 until her death. She died in her home on April 7, 1996.

Gladys and Charles Homan's son, Delmar Homan, attended the State University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa) from 1944 to 1949, earning a B.A. and M.A. in English. He taught high school in Red Oak, Iowa for a year, and also taught at Iowa State University in Ames from 1957 to 1961. Delmar Homan earned a Ph.D. in English from Columbia University in New York in 1963, and taught English at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas from 1961 until his retirement in the spring of 1991. He also served in the United States Army for two years, from 1950 to 1952.

Citation:

* Most of the biographical material contained here comes from The Lawrence Family History (1998) and Adams County History (1984). Both books are contained in the Gladys Homan papers at the Iowa Women's Archives.

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