Obituary from Osawatomie Graphic, April 2, 2003:

Gladys Dorathy Hartford, 86, Osawatomie, died Wednesday, March 26, 2003, in Country Club Estates in Paola. She was born Aug 15, 1916, in Coldwater, Kan., the oldest of the two children of James Thomas Benjamin and Vera Velma Taylor Shelden. The family lived in Coldwater until moving to Osawatomie in 1923. Known as Dorathy, she spent a few years in her childhood with an uncle and aunt in Lawrence. She graduated in 1934 from Osawatomie High School and attended Winfield Junior College.

She and William Clayton Hartford were married July 9, 1936, in Osawatomie, where they made their home. They became parents of three children. Mrs. Hartford was a bookkeeper in a local laundry just prior to World War II. She then worked in their grocery store, the 12th Street Market, in the early 1950's. From Aug. 1, 1961, until September 1, 1978, she was employed at Osawatomie State Hospital as a storekeeper II. She managed the hospital conteen. Her memberships included the First Christian Church and its Christian Women's Fellowship, the National Association of Retired and Veteran Railway Employees and UTU Women's Auxiliary, all of Osawatomie.

Her husband preceded her in death July 18, 1994. Survivors include her two sons, James C. Hartford of Dickinson, N.D., and William Reed Hartford of Colby, Kan.; her daughter, Heide Kessler of Paola; a brother, J.G. Shelden of Osawatomie; seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Services were Saturday (Mar 29) in Eddy-Birchard Funeral Home in Osawatomie, followed by burial in Osawatomie Cemetery. Pallbearers were Jim Pritchard, Kevin R. Stoughton, Ken Davis, Richard Held, Will Hartford and Dan Hartford. Memorials may be made to the church in care of the funeral home.