Gladys Thurman Sutton, 98, died Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2012.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, Aug. 11 at 11 a.m. at Ruby Baptist Church with burial to follow in the Ruby Cemetery. Mrs. Sutton’s nephew, Rev. J. Ronald Thurman, will be presiding as pastor over the service.

The family will receive friends for visitation at the Ruby Baptist Church in the Fellowship Hall following the burial.

Born June 19, 1914, in Ruby, Gladys was the daughter of the late James Perkins and Mollie Sullivan Thurman. She was a member of the Ruby Baptist Church where she taught Sunday School for more than 60 years and earned a certificate of service for 50 years of mission work. She also was awarded a certificate and pin from the American Cancer Society for 25 years of service. She was employed with a number of Chesterfield County area businesses, but most enjoyed her time as a teacher’s aide and retired from the Chesterfield County School District.

Mrs. Sutton was a loving and devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother with an unshakeable and enduring Christian faith.

In a poem written in a message to her grandson in 1986, she wrote, “New bodies like His to look forward to / Loved ones who are waiting just for you / A Heavenly Land where God doth reign / With Jesus our Savior, Lord and King / We’ll be richer by far than this world’s worth / Or anything else on this old Earth / Look up, have faith, reach out your hand / And grasp the one from that golden strand / Don’t weep, don’t grieve, just try to understand / I’ll be waiting for you in that better land.”

She was preceded in death by her husband of 57 years, Rufus L. “Speedy” Sutton, daughter Kay Sutton Rivers, brothers David Thurman, Johnnie Thurman, and Knox Thurman, and sister Madge Thurman Davis.

Survivors include grandson William J. Rivers, III and wife Amy; great-grandchildren, Taylor Sullivan Rivers and William J. Rivers, IV of Darlington; sister, Thelma Thurman Venters of Darlington; sisters-in-law, Mildred Thurman of Ruby and Margaret Thurman of Florence; brother, Billy Thurman and wife Evelyn of Ruby, and brother Mickey Thurman of Mount Croghan.

Memorials may be made to the Ruby Baptist Church, the Ruby Cemetery Association, or the Kay Sutton Rivers Memorial Scholarship Fund at Coker College.

Miller-Rivers-Caulder Funeral Home in Chesterfield is responsible for all arrangements.