Dannie Rebecca Mays was born on February 29, 1916, in Newborn, Tennessee. She was very young, about 5 or 6 years old, when her mother died. She had a sister who was younger. Her name was Jetty Elizabeth Mays. Jetty was adopted and her name became Lois Elizabeth Fowler.

Dannie Rebecca was still very young when her father left the children alone for whatever reason. Someone reported the two girls alone in the house and CPS or child welfare or whatever was the child protention agency was in those days, came and took the girls to Little Rock, Arkansas to an orphanage. They never saw their father again until they were grown and had families of their own.

Dannie Rebecca was adopted by Benjamin And Myrle Battenfield. When they adopted her they gave her a new name. Her new name was Gladys Rebecca Battenfield. Benjamin was a Circuit Riding Preacher. Myrle was a timid, frail little lady, who was not able to do much of anything. I met her not long before she died. She was blind and stayed in a dark bedroom all the time. Pauline lived with her and cared for her. Pauline had 2 children.

After they adopted Gladys they also adopted Ruth and Pauline. The girls were adopted to take care of daily chores. Ruth and Pauline worked mostly in the house while Gladys worked outside. Gladys said that Pauline was not as bright as the other girls and she was very slow. She needed more time to study her lessons and do her homework, therefore she could do housework.

The garden and the animals were Gladys' to work and care for. When the girls were still quite young they moved to Ark. in the Compton area in Newton County. They all went to school in Compton.

Benjamin decided the girls didn't have enough to do to keep them busy so he bought some goats. Benjamin was a graduate of Harvard University, with connections to some experimenting with goat glands, connected to Brinkley Hospital. The girls never knew what the glands were used for. They just knew that in addition to Benjamin's trips for preaching, he also made business trips. Kids in those days just did what they were told, no questions asked.

Gladys, in spite of her very hard life, was a wonderful caring, loving mother. She married Noah Armer when they were both 16 years old. Noah was away a lot of the time working or looking for work. Sometimes he was gone for very long periods of time, leaving Gladys to provide for and raise the children all by herself. Noah and Gladys had 6 children. Noah and Gladys eventually divorced. Gladys took the four younger children and went to Arizona in the 60's.

The eldest children, Robert and Mary Ann were married and had families of their own. She could not find a job at first and moved back to Arkansas. with her oldest daughter and her husband. Later they all moved back to Arizona, where she met and married Arlen Hall. She and Arlen stayed in the Yuma area until they died. Arlen died of lung cancer in March of 1994. Gladys died of hemmoragic stroke on October 28, 2000 she was 84 years old. They are both buried in the Wellton Cemetery in Wellton, Arizona.

She loved and was loved very much by the family and the people in the community. She attended and was a member of the Southern Baptist Church of Wellton, Arizona.

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