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Note: Farmed with husband John near Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin. After his death, she moved to Russett Road in west Madison. Was a member of Mt. Horeb Evangelical Lutheran Church. The book, Look to the Rock....the Urness/Barsness Episode, by Ann Urness Gesme, copyright 1988, 413 pages, contains comprehensive family history.
Memorial to Gladys Barsness Topper Gladys Barsness Topper was born on July 19, 1902 in Vermont Township, Wisconsin to Herman J. and Otelia (Erickson) Barsness. She married John Topper in 1922. They had seven children: Verna, Doris, Russell, Wesley, Janis, Marilyn and John as well as many grandchildren and great grandchildren. During the summers her grandchildren would take turns spending time on their 80-acre farm on Town Hall Road in Springdale near Mt. Horeb. Each summer she tended her flowers and her garden from which she prepared canned goods for the long Wisconsin winters. She was a great cook and enjoyed sewing, arts and crafts. She would take scraps of this and that and make lovely crafts from them. From an old-fashioned weaving machine, she wove colorful, sturdy rugs from rags and covered large cans to serve as foot rests. Gladys was mightily proud of her Norwegian heritage. On Christmas when all the family would gather at the farm for a huge feast, she would serve homemade wine, lefsa, and sometimes lutefisk. Her chicken and dumplings were the best in the world. Although she was a frugal person, she made sure her many grandchildren were remembered on their birthdays with a card and a "little something" inside.
OBIT - TOPPER, GLADYS (m. John Topper) - Gladys Topper, Madison, died unexpectedly on Monday, February 26, 1990, in a Madison hospital at the age of 87 years. The former Gladys Barsness was born on July 19, 1902 in Vermont Township to parents Herman and Otelia Barsness. In 1922, she was married to John Topper and they farmed in the Mount Horeb area until 1974. Following the death of her husband, she moved to Madison in 1975. Surviving are four daughters, Verna Gasdorf, Madison; Doris (William) Squire, Racine; Marilyn (Sylvan) Maly, Waunakee; and Janice (Marvin) Monson, Barneveld; three sons, Russell (Theresa) Topper, John (Linda) Topper, both of Madison and Wesley (Elmere) Topper, Verona; 18 grandchildren and many great-grandchildren ; two brothers, Orval (Dolores) Barsness, Black Earth and Harvey (Gloria) Barsness, Mount Horeb; and a sister Mildred (Orville) Halverson, Lone Rock. Besides her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by two sisters, Cora Barsness and Ruby Johnson; and three brothers, Ralph Barsness, Albert (Bert) Barsness and Marvin Barsness. Funeral arrangements are pending at the Ellestad Funeral Home in Mount Horeb.
Note: Gladys died of a heart attack in her kitchen at her 2-bedroom apartment in west Madison. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.
She attended Steensrud School in Vermont, Dane Co., WI. In 1865 the first Steensrud School was built in District No. 5. It stood until 1885 when a special meeting was held to consider a new location. The new schoolhouse would measure 20? x 30?. There would be a stone wall built around the building, five feet high with plastered walls inside and wainscoted three feet up from the floor. To George Bryant went the job of digging out stumps and burning brush for $6.00; to John Temanson the job of digging rocks necessary for the wall under the building for $10.00; to Andrew Huset and Ole Stay the job of digging the basement for $22.00; to James Deardsley the job of laying the cellar wall, lathing and plastering and laying the chimney for $35.00; to Andrew Haugner the job of carpenter work for $80.00.
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