Gladys Mcdonald

Gladys Gibson McDonald, born April 24, 1935, fell peacefully asleep in Jesus on July 9, 2022. She was surrounded by her loved ones.
Gladys was the matriarch of her family, a guiding light to Jesus. Born in Evarts, Kentucky as a coal miner's daughter Gladys grew up in a simpler time where hard work was the standard of daily living and family was everything. A time where people had less but made more of everything that they had.
She met and married James Lay and together they had four children. After a few moves they eventually settled into the Apopka, Florida area. In addition to raising their four children Gladys also worked at a bakery and the Forest Lake Academy laundry. After her divorce from James she went on to get her GED and earn her Medical Office Assistant certificate and also took a chaplain's assistant course. She also spent 25 years as the Director of Community Services for the Apopka SDA Church.
Years later she met and married Robert McDonald. Their relationship brought her years of joy in sharing Jesus together until his passing in 2011.
To know Gladys was to know Jesus. She radiated Him in all that she did and witnessed about him to anyone near her. The excitement she would share about being with Jesus in heaven was infectious. She set a shining example for her family of how beautiful a relationship with Jesus could be and how it would always get you through the hard times and increase your happy times tenfold.
Gladys was preceded in death by her Husband - Robert McDonald; Father- Harold Gibson; Mother - Louada (Hammons) Gibson; Brother - Ray Gibson; Brother - Bill Gibson; Son - James Lay; Son - Roscoe Lay; Daughter - Peggy (Lay) Swearingen.
Gladys is survived by her Daughter - Patricia (Lay) Marshall; Daughter-in-Law - Patricia Lay; Sister - Marybelle Gibson; Grandchildren - Kenneth Marshall Jr.; James Marshall Sr.; Tammy (Marshall) Sanders; Jennifer (Lay) Desmond; James Lay Jr.; Ernest Swearingen III; Craig Swearingen; Stephanie Swearingen; Roscoe Lay Jr.; Mavrick Lay; Great-Grandchildren - Robyn (Marshall) Clark; James Marshall Jr.; Jesse Sanders; Kyle Sanders; Emma Sanders; Olivia Lay; Briana Swearingen; Ernest Swearingen IV; River Lay; Rocky Lay III.