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Laura Tunnell Gleysteen ’40

Laura Tunnell Gleysteen ’40, June 14, 2011, in Bremerton, Washington. Laura began her schooling at the University of New Mexico and moved on to the University of California, Berkeley. “I was a college bum,” she said. Reedites Peggy Sebern Moss ’41 and Margaret Selling Labby ’40, whom she met at Berkeley, influenced Laura’s decision to attend Reed. After earning a BA in sociology, she went to San Diego to work for the welfare department and the American Red Cross, and, in 1946, married naval physician Rodney R. Gleysteen. He later opened a private medical practice in Bremerton. Laura served on the Bremerton School Board and the board of the Bremerton Symphony, and volunteered with the YMCA, the American Cancer Society, the local chapter of the NAACP, the Bremerton Garden Club, and P.E.O. In her public obituary, we read that she had a strong sense of family and a delightful sense of humor. “She often marveled at the richness of her life, which she attributed largely to the diversity of her friends and family, young and old.” Survivors include two sons, two daughters, and four grandchildren. Rodney died in 1989.

Appeared in Reed magazine: December 2011

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