Former Crooked Billet Cafeteria Worker Dies

Gladys M. Schell, of Perkasie, formerly of Hilltown Township and Hatboro, died on Wednesday at her residence. She was 83. 

She had been employed as a cafeteria worker at Crooked Billet Elementary School in Hatboro for many years. 

She was the wife of the late Thomas W. Schell, who died in 1987. 

Born in Bryn Athyn, she was the daughter of the late Horace and Edith (Thomas) Lodge. Schell was a 1948 graduate of Lower Moreland High School.

Affectionately known to all as “Ga,” a name earned when her first grandchild could not yet say Grandmom, Schell joked that she was the original Lady Gaga.

She loved all animals and supported the Bucks County SPCA. She was also a proud supporter of the U.S.O. 

An avid fan of the Phillies, Schell also followed the New Orleans Saints and college football, especially Penn State.

She enjoyed reading and going out to eat with friends and family, to whom she was jokingly known as a “professional eater.” Most especially, she loved spending time with her grandchildren.

She is survived by her daughter and best friend, Deborah A. Gunter, and her husband, Paul; three grandchildren: Scott T. Gunter, Christopher P. Gunter, and Stacey M. Gunter, all of Perkasie; a sister, Harriet Clayton, and her husband, David, of Sellersville; friends, Marie Hartley, Mary Yerkes and all of the “Golden Girls Cardiac Rehab. Group;” her dog, “Meeko;” and her two cats, “Patches” and “Callie.”

In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her son, Stephen W. Schell, in 2011; and two brothers and sisters-in-law: Horace Lodge, Jr. and his wife, Mildred, and William Lodge and his wife, Dorothy.

Her memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday in the Betty Meier Steeley Funeral Home, 87 North Main Street, Sellersville. A visitation will be held at the funeral home from 10 a.m. until the time of service.

Interment will follow in Whitemarsh Memorial Park, Prospectville.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in her name to the Bucks County SPCA, P.O. Box 277, Lahaska, PA 18931.