Gladys Tabaracci

Gladys Viscon Tabaracci, 89, of Great Falls, passed away due to Alzheimer’s at the Ruby House on Thursday, October 20, 2016. Visitation will be held on Friday, October 28, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. at O’Connor Memorial Chapel until the vigil service that will be held at 7:30 p.m. A funeral liturgy will be held on Saturday, October 29, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. at Corpus Christi Catholic Church (formerly St. Luke’s Catholic Church). Interment will follow at Mount Olivet Cemetery. The family asks that everyone wear red to the service as this was Gladys’ favorite color. O’Connor Funeral Home is handling the arrangements. Mom was born in Helena, Montana on March 15, 1927 to George and Alta Viscon. After the earthquake of 1935 hit Helena, her family moved to Great Falls. Mom attended St. Mary’s Institute graduating in 1945. She fell in love with Ted Tabaracci and they were married June 25, 1947 at St. Ann’s Cathedral. They moved to Missoula while dad was attending the University of Montana and mom worked for the Missoula Mercantile. After dad graduated they returned to Great Falls and mom began working in the blueprint department for the Anaconda Smelter. When we were born, mom was able to stay home and raise us until the late 1960’s when she went to work at the Paris of Montana and later went to work at Malmstrom Federal Credit Union (1st Liberty FCU) as a teller working her way up to a loan officer, retiring in 1982. After retirement and enjoying their travels, including a trip to Italy with dad’s sister Emelia, mom went back to work part time at Spencer’s of Montana. We have wonderful family memories of the vacations that we spent together each year growing up. The grandkids loved the stories she would make up about Teeny and Weeny. She had a wonderful sense of humor and an infectious laugh where she received the nickname of Puddles. She always enjoyed dressing up for the holidays and loved her rose garden and reading. She is survived by her children, Cheryl (Ed) Higgins and Cathy (Dewey) Sutphin of Great Falls, Chuck (Terry) Tabaracci of Ogden, UT, and Caryl (Jay) Olmstead of Plymouth, NH; two sisters, Alta (Joe) Boboth, of Sun City West, AZ and Mary Nagy of Sun City, AZ; seven grandchildren, Dena, Maureen, Melissa, Ian, Janel, Jessie and Jackie; great grandchildren, Layne, Kylie, Dakota, Haleyann, and Danika. She was preceded in death by her husband Ted; parents; baby brother Danny; sisters Lorraine Mallory and Peggy Dickerson. In lieu of flowers, the family would like donations sent to the Alzheimer Foundation Montana Chapter, 3010 11th Ave N., Billings, MT, 59101. The family would like to thank the staff at the Ruby House for their wonderful care and kindness shown to our mom.