Angels Camp, CA…Gladys (McDaniel) Richards moved to Vallecito in 1937 at the age of 10. Her family lived and worked on the Six Mile Ranch. Gladys graduated from 8th grade at the Old Vallecito Grammar School in 1939, and attended Bret Harte High School with the class of 1944. She worked as a soda jerk at the fountain in Girodi’s Drug Store in Angels Camp and at the box factory during World War II. During the late 1940’s she worked as a switchboard operator for the phone company in Angels Camp.

Gladys held the community of Angles Camp close in her heart after she moved away. She remained close to her family in the area and liked to reminisce. Gladys retired as an operator from the phone company in Modesto in 1983. She died peacefully on January 25, 2021 in Modesto at the age of 94.