Gladys Marie Stepp

February 26, 1927 - August 25, 2020

Gladys Marie Stepp, passed away in her sleep, August 25, 2020. Born February 26, 1927, in Barber, she was 93. She is survived by her two sons, Marvin and Dale Stepp, both of Tahlequah; six grandchildren, Stephanie Robertson, James Stepp, Jennifer DeLeon, Lisa Stepp Falco, Colten Stepp, and Savannah Stuard; and eight great grandchildren, Jacob Stepp, Caleb Stepp, Tray DeLeon, Lilian Falco, and Sawyer, Avalia, and Lawson. Other surviving family members include two brothers, Bob Eastham, and Joe Eastham. She was preceded in death by her husband Gerald Stepp; her father and mother, Marvin Eastham and Gracie Eden Eastham, and her sisters Mildred Eastham Ryals, and Wilma Eastham Craig. Marie was married to Gerald Stepp for 53 years before his death in 2001. The met and fell in love when she was only 16 living in “Punkin” Hollow (named after the Punkin family) and were married three years later when Gerald returned from the Philippines where he served in the U.S. Navy Sea Bees as a corpsman. He retired from the Air Force in 1969. They had their first son, Marvin, when she was 21 years old, and their second son, Dale, three years later. Marvin “Mark” Stepp served in the Air Force and became a journalist. Dale was a medic in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and later served with the U.S. Navy’s Patriot Missile System during the Iran hostage crisis. A 1946 graduate of Bagley High School in Tahlequah, Marie studied art at Northeastern State University, and painted hundred of oil paintings in her lifetime. Two of her best known paintings hang above the baptistery at what used to be the General Baptist Church in Tahlequah, where Gerald was a deacon, and in the Honor Heights Papilion (Butterfly House) in Muskogee. She worked as a professional florist in Oklahoma City for 30 years and Art’s Flowers in Muskogee for 10 years. After retirement, she worked as a volunteer at the Northeastern Health System’s Remarkable clothing store for three years. Graveside services will be held AT 10:00 a.m. Saturday August 29th at the Tahlequah City Cemetery. Her cousin Chaplin (LtCol) Calvin Eastham, USA, RETIRED will preside over the ceremony.