Eunice Glidden`

Eunice Ophelia Burgdorf Glidden was born in Hills, Texas on June 11, 1925 to Viola Grace Hill Burgdorf and John August Burgdorf and died peacefully at her home surround by family on October 11, 2011. The oldest of five children, she was raised on the family farm at Hills. She attended Giddings High School where she graduated as Salutatorian of the class of 1944. She attended the University of Texas at Austin, working to pay her way through school, and when she could no longer afford college, she taught school in Paige, Texas for a year. She returned to the University the next year and graduated in 1949 with a degree in English. It was there that she met Marlin Thompson, Jr. and they were married at the University Methodist Church on October 6, 1950. After college and working to pay her husband''s way through law school, they moved briefly to Cleveland, Texas and then moved to Orange, Texas in 1953. . To this marriage was born four daughters. In 1977, she married Leon Glidden and in 1983 she married Bill Triggs. Eunice always loved gardening and roses, so when she moved to Brenham from Orange in 1994, she put in a beautiful rose garden with over 100 roses and enjoyed sharing the blooms with friends, neighbors and hospice patients. Always a hard worker, in Brenham, she did substitute teaching, worked for Jackson Home Health and First Baptist Church School while her granddaughters attended,. Her most rewarding job was working for the Brazos Valley Hospice where she worked until age 84. She was a beautiful letter writer, penning memorials and ministering to and comforting dying patients and grieving families. She was certified in Elementary Education, and at 83, she got a second job at Sylvan Learning Center tutoring young children in reading. Eunice was very active in the Methodist Church, both at First United Methodist Church in Orange and First United Methodist Church of Brenham, and she served on numerous boards and committees. She loved sharing her Christian faith with all she came in contact with. She also loved music, and was a member of Round Top Institute from its inception, often driving four hours from Orange to attend concerts at Festival Hill. She was preceded in death by her parents and by her husbands Marlin Thompson, Leon Glidden and her first grandson, Tyler West. She is survived by her brothers, J. A. Burgdorf of Arlington, Sterling Burgdorf of Indiana, Willard Burgdorf of Giddings and her sister Rosa Lee Burgdorf of Arkansas., her four daughters, Janis Thompson Woods of Shreveport, Taunia Thompson Elick and husband John of Bellville, Inga Thompson of Kingwood and Kim Thompson West and husband Chuck of Dallas, .8 grandchildren, Laramy Elick, Lacey Elick, Ashlyn Elick, Lyndsay West, Lauren West, Alden Woods, Travis West and Treyson West, 6 nieces and nephews, 9 great nieces and nephews, and her loving caregivers, Laura Massey and Dorothy Lewis. Visitation will take place at Memorial Oaks Chapel from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 13, 2011. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. at First United Methodist Church Friday, October 14. Rev. Dale Chance will officiate. Burial will follow in Giddings City Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her honor to Brazos Valley Hospice, First United Methodist Church of Brenham or Round Top Festival Institute. Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Memorial Oaks Chapel, 1306 W. Main, Brenham. For more information, visit www.memorialoakschapel.com.