Gladys Christine Smith was the first of 9 children born to the union of Sallie Ann Waggoner and John Edgar Smith. Born on June 1, 1916, in Mulberry, Tennessee, her father, John, was 25, and her mother, Sarah, was 27. Her step-brother Jared (1903) was 12 , and her half-brother Charlie (1909) was 7.

The 1920 Census shows her to be living with her mother, father, Charlie, and younger sister Hulda (1918) in Civil District 4 of Lincoln County, which would likely have been in or around Mulberry, although a 1967 letter to Sallie regarding the family tree references when they all lived on “Tucker’s Creek…in the teens and early 20s of 1900.” [Tucker’s Creek is in the Crystal Ridge area of Moore County, where Sallie is shown living on the 1900 and 1910 Censuses. It is likely that the “early teens and 20s” referenced in the letter was mis-recalled by the writer and was in fact really the 1900s and teens.. a decade off.] Jared is not living with them, and may have already moved to Chattanooga. The census was done in January. Estelle (1920) was born in March, 2 months later.

On the 1930 Census, Gladys is 14 years old and living on Mulberry Pike in Civil District 5 of Lincoln County, Tennessee, with her parents John and and Sallie, along with siblings Charlie, Hulda, Estelle, Ruth (1922), Doug (1927) and Joe (1930). Another sister, Johnnie Jewel, had been born on New Year’s Eve, 1924, but died just before Christmas and her first birthday in 1925 following surgery for an intestinal blockage.

She attended school in Mulberry, graduating from Mulberry High School in 1933.

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Gladys had 2 additional siblings, Barbara Ann (1932) and John Paul ((1935).

She married Frank Cummings on October 2, 1937. The 1940 Census shows she and Frank living on Ariole Drive in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with Frank’s older brother, wife and 7-year-old son. She is working as a stenographer, and he is a lineman for TVA Public Power. They had their first daughter, Sandra Faye in 1942.

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Frank enlisted in the US Navy on 26 November 1942 for WWII. He was released from his enlistment on 6 October, 1945.

A 1949 city directory shows them living at 1329 Brown NW in Cleveland, Tennessee. He is still working for TVA as an electrician, and she is an office clerk for the president of the “Pilot’s Club.” A 1953 directory shows them having moved to 1350 Highland NW in Cleveland. Frank is still with TVA, and Gladys is a secretary for WL McCalley Co. Their second daughter, Patricia Estelle was born in 1955. Members of the extended Smith family assembled for Patti’s christening in Cleveland, and pictures show them gathered at her sister’s home (Hulda) after the event. Barbara was Patti’s Godmother.

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A 1957 directory shows them having moved back to Brown street, but 1263 street number.Frank is now an Electrical Foreman for TVA, and Gladys is working for WL McCalley Co.

In 1993, they are living at 2407 Wolfe Drive in Cleveland.

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Frank died on 18 September, 1996, in Cleveland and was buried there..

Gladys died on November 25, 2001, in Cleveland, Tennessee, at the age of 85, and was buried there.