Gladys Marquart, 94, Napoleon, ND, passed away peacefully September 18, 2023, at the Napoleon Care Center. Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday, September 22, 2023 at 10:30 AM at St. Philip Neri Catholic Church, Napoleon. Visitation will be held on Thursday, September 21, 2023 from 5:00-7:00 PM with a prayer service at 7:00 PM at Feist Funeral Home, Napoleon. Burial will be held at St. Philip Neri Cemetery, Napoleon. A livestream of Gladys' funeral service will be available on the St. Philip Neri Catholic Church Facebook page or St Philip Neri Napoleon YouTube page.

Gladys was born on September 27, 1928, the first child of John and Lydia (Hoffer) Geist. She spent her early years on her family farm in Kidder County, south of Tappen, North Dakota where she attended country school and the Glueckstal Lutheran Church. She grew up surrounded by her extended family, the Hoffer and Geist aunts, uncles, and cousins who lived nearby, as well as other neighbors who were descendants of German-Russian families that had emigrated from the Glückstal Colonies near the Black Sea around the turn of the century. Through the long winters, her father bundled her up and delivered her to the one-room schoolhouse in a horse-drawn wagon.

Her childhood was happy but touched by the sadness of the loss of her two younger brothers, Leroy and Donald, both of whom died in infancy. She herself survived a near-fatal bout of scarlet fever as a child, partially losing hearing in one ear, but going on to enjoy otherwise robust health for the rest of her long life. Her mother, Lydia, was an enthusiastic amateur photographer who documented Gladys's early life, posing her with dogs, horses, Model-Ts, bicycles, hymnals, badminton rackets, ukuleles, and many fancy hats. As her maternal aunt Martha once proclaimed, "Your ma sure thought she had something when she got you." Indeed, she did. Gladys grew up to be beautiful, smart, strong, and hard-working.

After country school, she attended classes in Tappen, staying in town with her Geist grandparents during the winter months. After finishing school, she returned to teach country school for a short time. When she was eighteen, she had the opportunity to take a road trip to California when her grandfather, Frederick Hoffer, decided to leave behind the 30 dozen farm eggs that he'd planned to take back to Lodi, and instead offered the extra seat to Gladys. Returning from the visit, she saw parts of the American West for the first time when she traveled home by train accompanied by her aunt and uncle, Reinhold and Leonarda Hoffer.

Shortly thereafter, she took a job as a waitress in a café on Main Street in Napoleon and met the love of her life, Felix Marquart. In preparation for their marriage, Gladys converted to Catholicism. They wed in Napoleon on July 26, 1949, started a family, and eventually moved to Bismarck where they bought a two-story brick house at 201 West Avenue A, near downtown where Felix worked selling appliances at Ace Hardware.

In 1956, Felix felt compelled to move the family from Bismarck back to Napoleon to take over the family farm northwest of Napoleon when his father became ill. For over two decades, they worked together as equal partners on their dairy farm until 1981 when they retired from farming and built a house in Napoleon, kitty-corner from the Catholic church.

Throughout the years, Gladys took on jobs in Napoleon working at the Red Door clothing store, Del's grocery store, and doing cleaning for St. Philip Neri Catholic Church. For many years, she and Felix—along with Felix's brother Ben and his wife Clem—owned and operated The Spot Bar on Main Street in Napoleon. After the couple moved to town from the farm, Gladys also began taking in sewing and alteration jobs, working away at her Singer machine at everything from prom and bridesmaid dresses to patched jeans and torn flannel shirts. Gladys was an avid quilter, and, over the winters, she and many women from Napoleon created handmade quilts that sold at auction each summer to raise money for the Golden Age Club.

Gladys Marquart lived independently in her own home for many years after the death of Felix on June 1, 1996. In 2014, she adopted an orange cat with gold eyes named Von Trap (Trapper) who was her constant companion and solace for almost a decade. In those years, she also treasured her neighbors, looked after neighborhood children, and made good friends, especially Delilah Wolf Jangula, and many more who remember her Sunday afternoon coffee and cake gatherings which continued into early spring of this year when she fell ill and was hospitalized.

Gladys leaves behind a large family, including her children and their partners, Colleen (Al) Vosburg in Bozeman, MT; Charlotte (Don) Schuld in Stillwater, MN; Richard (Dawne) Marquart in Napoleon, ND; and Debra Marquart (Tom Rice) in Ames, IA. She leaves behind her many beloved grandchildren, including Casey Vosberg, Eric Schuld, Sarah Tanner, Jason Marquart, Megan Marquart, Arron Marquart, Chris Sperle, Shawn Sperle, Shelly Swanson, Stephanie Finck, Allison Roth, and numerous great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Judith; her husband, Felix; and her parents, John and Lydia Geist.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to support the Golden Age Club, 503 Main, Napoleon, North Dakota.