A founding member of the Stillwater Historical Society and an original member of the “Library Ladies” group, Gladys Rosenkrans was a solid fixture in the Stillwater community for more than thirty years. She was born in Unionville, NY, and grew up near Sparta where her parents, Emma and John Nystrand, raised four children on West Mountain. Gladys attended Franklin High School and graduated as valedictorian. She was a trained beautician and also worked at Picatinny Arsenal during WWII.

Gladys moved to Stillwater in 1950 when she married McClellan Rosenkrans, a building contractor whose ancestors had arrived in America in the mid-1600’s.

Family, community and church were paramount in her life. Gladys and “Mac” raised three children in Stillwater: David, Danny and Lynn. Her many volunteer activities included organizing dinners for the Presbyterian Church, Sunday School, volunteer work at Stillwater School and helping to run the Stillwater Rodeo. When her children entered high school she took a job as court clerk for Stillwater and Hampton Townships. In 1985 Gladys and her husband retired and moved to Nicholson, PA and enjoyed travelling throughout the world. She also continued a busy life of service to the community and volunteered for the Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton for ten years. Gladys and McClellan Rosenkrans both had the wanderlust bug, and they loved travelling together. They both passed away in 2008, within a few months of one another.

In 2021, Gladys’ son Danny Rosenkrans, who lives in Alaska, responded to a request from the HSST for an essay about his mother. Click here to read his memories.