Gladys Ryder

Beach Funeral Homes - East

Visitation

Heather Allen

Pierce-Jefferson Funeral Services Lambeth Chapel

Altogether<br/>4307 Vineland Road, Suite H-17-19, Orlando, FL 32811<br/>For more information, visit our website at <a href='www.altogetherfuneral.com'>www.altogetherfuneral.com</a><br/>Copyright © 2025 FPG Intermediate Holdco, LLC

Gladys Selena Ryder



On July 10, 2016, the world lost a truly special person. She was our Mother and her name was Gladys Selena Ryder. She was 93 years young and went very peacefully in her sleep.

Gladys was born at her childhood home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 8, 1922 to Edward and Florence Mackenzie. She had an older sister, Florence Mackenzie Brown who passed away April 2014 at 92 years old.

The love of her life was James Ryder, they married and honeymooned at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. Soon after, James was shipped over to fight in the Pacific during WWII. After his return, they lived a simple, happy life. They had four children: Susan Florence Ryder, James (Jim) Edward Ryder, Marilyn Jean Ryder, and Barbara Jean Ryder.

There were some great hardships in their young family life. Immediately after the birth of the 3rd child, Marilyn, their first child Susan was diagnosed with leukemia and died at five years old in 1955. While enduring the illness of this child with chemotherapy and other difficult treatments for almost a year, they had to care for Jim at 3 years old and Marilyn as an infant. Gladys also lost a great deal of blood during the birth of Marilyn and contracted hepatitis leaving her weak and ill for several weeks after the birth. How God gave her the strength to deal with all of that at once is beyond comprehension.

After the death of Susan, they moved to South Florida in 1957 and bought a new home in Carol City, Florida. Gladys became involved in the local Methodist church and became a pre-school teacher. Eventually, she became the Director of the church pre-school. Later, the family moved to Miramar, Florida. Gladys took a position teaching pre-school again and went on to earn her Montessori teaching certification.

Life was good in Miramar for several years. Particularly when the family were all surprised and delighted at the news of her pregnancy, at 42 years old with Barbara.. Barbara was a healthy, beautiful baby and, in some ways, filled the gap that Gladys always had in her heart from the loss of Susan. Gladys was the most fun, thoughtful, and creative mother. She was the Den Mother for Jim's Boy Scout den, hosted slumber parties for her daughters' friends, and created her own beautiful homemade Halloween costumes for the kids. The Boy Scout parties for Jim would be pool parties at the house with hot dogs on the grill and orders of 50 burgers from the local Royal Castle. Slumber parties were regaled with lots of games and stories read by Mom that many friends still remember. Thanksgiving and Christmas were always hosted at our house with family and friends alike. This was passed on to Barbara who still throws great holiday parties.

However, hardship struck again in July of 1980 when her husband, James died at 58 years old after going into the hospital for routine gall bladder surgery.

Soon after the death of her husband, she moved with Barbara to The Courtyards of Suntree in Melbourne, Florida. She retired from teaching and went about living her life. Art classes, bingo, and going out dancing. Her sister, Florence Brown lived nearby and they played bridge with a group of friends regularly.

Gladys met a wonderful friend in her Suntree neighborhood named Kitty. Those two were best of friends. They shopped and frequented the local McDonalds at Wickham Road and Suntree Place. Mom was so very friendly, and soon, they developed a large group of friends at McDonalds who she considered like family. They met every day until she began to decline in her health. Over the last several years she broke both hips, her arm, lost all the skin on her arm from a fall and so many other things. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in her 80's for which she declined treatment. She had developed moderate dementia. She was eventually moved to the Brennity at Melbourne for assisted living and then for hospice care. However, she never ever complained of pain and therefore was not on any medications until the end. The cancer had spread, but no extensive tests were taken to see where and how severe. While at the Brennity, her sister, Florence passed away at 92 years old, and her dear friend Kitty passed away in 2015 at the age of 100 years old. The wonderful extended family at McDonalds, as well as her niece, Debi St. John, daughter of Florence, had continued to watch over her and provide Jim and Marilyn, living in Arizona with updates. The youngest daughter, Barbara, saw to her every need while she was still at home and then after being moved to the Brennity. 

If you had the great pleasure to know our mom you know she was a great lady, right up to the day when her body fell asleep forever and her soul went to Heaven. Anyone who walked into her room were told that she loved them and how beautiful they were. She always noticed the handsome men and wasn't afraid to tell them - even the doctors. She was feisty as all get out and stubborn as a bull. That woman knew what she wanted and she made sure you did too. Throughout our lives she became one of our greatest friends. As older age along with its woes came along, the roles evolved as we became more the parents. There is no doubt that all the positive traits we have as people are due to her. Heaven has gained an angel. One of the best.

Her surviving family members are numerous, but mainly include:

Mother of 3 Living Children: James (Jim) Edward Ryder and wife Carmen of Phoenix, Arizona, Marilyn Jean Ryder-Ragland and husband David of Sierra Vista, Arizona, Barbara Jean Ryder-Ferdinand of Melbourne, Florida, and her niece, Debi Brown who was like a daughter and is a sister to the family.

Grandmother to 5: Nathaniel Facarazzo, Jessica Ryder, Sandra Ryder, Savannah Ferdinand, and Carly Ferdinand

Great Grandmother to 2: Celestial Facarazzo and Ethan Facarazzo

Other family members: The wonderful group of folks at McDonalds, Michael Ferdinand, Sheri Gerhard-Hernandez, so many young lives she touched as a teacher and unfortunately too many beloved friends, and other relatives to list or even count.

A private ceremony for family will be held to inter her ashes at the Cross Tower, Serenity section at Suntree United Methodist Church.

When words can't fully express what we want to say, sometimes a small gift can. Visit our Memorial Store for personalized gifts, keepsake jewelry and to plant a memorial tree.

We use cookies to improve your browsing experience and analyze site traffic.
<privacyLink>Privacy Policy</privacyLink>.

<firstParagraph>We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze how you use this website, store your preferences, and provide the content and advertisements that are relevant to you. These cookies will only be stored in your browser with your prior consent.</firstParagraph><secondParagraph>You can choose to enable or disable some or all of these cookies but disabling some of them may affect your browsing experience.</secondParagraph>

<firstParagraph>We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.</firstParagraph><secondParagraph>The cookies that are categorized as 'Necessary' are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site.</secondParagraph>

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

Analytics

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

Functional

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

Necessary

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

Performance

Customize Cookie Preferences

Verification Successful!

New Message

The following files could not be uploaded

Ways you can honor {memorialName}'s memory:

Donation Link

Upcoming Event

Featured Mementos

Welcome Message

Select an item to highlight

Add a highlighted item

Customize which items you’d like to highlight on the memorial

Create Account

Become a Keeper

As a free {brandName} user, you will only be able to make 5 photos and videos public.

As a free {brandName} user, only the first five (5) Mementos are visible to page visitors. You can change which Mementos are public by dragging and dropping a photo or video to one of the first five positions. Upgrading to {brandName} Plus will make all 10 Mementos selected visible to the public.

All Mementos

This option is only available to Keeper Plus users.

To allow yourself and the rest of the community to view all images and videos, and to enable everyone to download their own copy of these mementos, upgrade your account to Keeper Plus.

This memento is not visible to visitors

Your community has posted {itemCount} more pictures and videos that honor {firstName}'s memory. To view them all, and to enable everyone to download their own copy of each, this account will need to upgrade to Keeper Plus.

View all images and videos with Keeper Plus

Our Obituary Assistant helps you craft a meaningful life story in minutes. Review and edit every detail, and unlock more features with Keeper Plus.

Obituary Assistant

Spend as much time as you need working on your Memorial page before it is visible to the public, and much more, when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Save Page as Draft

Create unlimited event pages and unlock a suite of powerful features to help you seamlessly coordinate event details, invites, and more when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Event

Create a full picture of your loved one’s community and add unlimited family and friends to Loved Ones when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Loved One

Create unlimited Memorials — and unlock unlimited images and videos, event pages, and advanced privacy settings — to help you keep memories alive when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Memorial Page

Add unlimited Stories to highlight the all the things that made your loved one unique, from milestones, images, albums, documents, locations, and much more.

Highlight Stories

Upgrading to Keeper Plus means you can add additional Keepers to help you gather Mementos and tributes, approve content, build out a family tree, and tell {firstName}' story on Keeper.

Invite Keepers with Keeper Plus

Upload and display unlimited photos and videos, use unlimited Story templates to highlight key moments, and allow friends and family to download their own copies when you upgrade to Keeper Plus. 

Better Mementos with Keeper Plus

To access memorial related configurations that control the display of the banner upgrade to Keeper Plus.

This configuration  is not available on your current plan

Create a meaningful link path to add a personal touch to {firstName}'s memorial.

Custom Memorial link

Gift Messages

SENDING AS A GIFT?

Cart

About 1-800 Flowers

"Flowers were beautiful and they arrived in time before the funeral. Thank you and will purchase more in the future.!"

Hearing Tears

"Beautiful flowers, I've always enjoyed sending them to my love ones for sympathy and they have always love them very much Thanks for making people feel good when receiving them."

Sympathy

"This was true to the photo and good to know family took arrangement after the service."

Beautiful arrangement.  Perfect size for service.

Some of the great things our customers say about us

We're here to make it a little easier, with thoughtful gifts for the services & home, along with expert advice on how to be there during a difficult time.

Flowers

Gift Baskets

Express Your Deepest Sympathy

About Us

Perfect Condolence Gift

No one is meant to grieve alone

Peace and love

Product is made, packaged, and sent with love

Keepsakes

How to add your gift message

Packaging Information

Shipping information

Add a Personalized Charm to the Ornament:

Other Keepsakes

Install KeeperQR onto any headstone, urn, or other memorial in minutes.

Install

Use your phone or tablet to scan the unique code — no other tools required!

Scan

All three of our elegant KeeperQR designs are printed using durable, weather-resistant aluminum designed for indoors and outdoor use on headstones and urns, memorial benches and trees, or other monuments to your loved one’s life

Built to Last

Get <discount>50% off</discount> Keeper Plus with your KeeperQR purchase

Keeper Basic

Learn About Our Plans

Connect the physical and digital worlds to share your loved one’s life story with friends and family, no matter where they are.

KeeperQR Memorial QR Code Plaques

Planting a memorial tree or bereavement tree is a unique, environmentally conscious way to pay tribute and honor the memory of your loved one. Keeper Memorials is supporting American Forests to plant whitebark pine trees as well as thornscrub trees in select regions of the US and Canada.

Memorial Trees

KeeperQR is designed to pair seamlessly with a Keeper digital memorial. Use our FREE intuitive tools to create biographies, maps, and timelines, share photos and videos, and more with customizable features built to commemorate your loved one’s life’s story.

Powered by Keeper

Lifetime without any hidden costs or subscription traps

One time payment

Keeper is SOC2 compliant, keeping your memories safe and secure.

Data protection guaranteed

We bring your QR Codes to any corner of the globe

Worldwide Shipping

Our durable and beautiful QR code plaques create seamless connection between your loved one’s physical memorial and their digital memorial, allowing visitors to their final resting place instant access to their life legacy.

Memorial.

Honor their memory, share their story

A KeeperQR is a weather-resistant plaque with a custom QR code that links directly to your loved one’s digital memorial. When placed on a headstone, urn, bench, or tree, it allows friends and family to scan and view their life story instantly

What is a KeeperQR?

They’re built to withstand outdoor elements and adhere to most surfaces.

Where can I place the KeeperQR?

How does it work?

Frequently asked questions

KeeperQR

E-Certificate Design

Plant Memorial Trees as a Living Tribute

BRAZIL

CANADA

FLORIDA

OREGON

Memorial Project Reach

Memorial trees start at {price} per tree, with discounts for multiple trees

Our Commitment

Gift Baskets & Food

Keeper Plus

QR Plaques

Keepers Featured Products

A Greener Way to Remember

Learn about our Partners:

Help Us Complete Your Order

Remembrance Store

Through your unique link, your client can sign up for Keeper and create a Memorial for a loved one. When the Memorial page is completed by the family, it will appear on your microsite and website. You will be the main Keeper Administrator of the Memorial, along with the family member that created the page.

Invite Your Clients to Create a Memorial

Invite Families

Your Email Notifications

Notifications

Email Unsubscribe Settings

Other Settings

With your active Keeper PLUS subscription, you get unlimited access to a suite of powerful features:

Allow visitors to download a local copy of all images and videos.

Download Media

Create a custom and meaningful URL, unique to your loved one, for each Memorial page.

Editable URL

Plan public or private events and invite your loved ones.

Event Pages

Add images and create profile pages to illustrate the history and genealogy of your loved one.

Family Tree

Invite unlimited administrators to help you manage every Memorial page you have.

Keeper Administrators

Visitors enjoy unrestricted access to all uploaded images and videos.

Unlimited Media

Create unlimited Memorial pages for your loved ones.

Memorial Pages

You will be able to upload Full HD videos instead of embedded links.

Video Uploading

Your Profile

Add a business user

Edit a business user

Are you sure you want to delete these users from these brands? You will need to manually add these users again.

If the user is a part of multiple brands, you will have to delete the user from each one individually

Delete Users from Brands?

Users Settings & Notifications

Users

Are you sure you want to delete these users? This action will revoke their privileges across all brands.

Are you sure you want to delete this user? This action will revoke their privileges across all brands.

Delete Users from all Brands?

Delete User from Brand?

Are you sure you want to delete {totalDeletes} from this user?

Delete Roles from this User?

Are you sure you want to delete this user from this brand? You will need to manually add this user again.

Delete User from this Brand?

Requires users to confirm their email every time they would like to share a tribute on a Memorial page.

When Email Tribute Validation is turned OFF, Guest users do not need to confirm their email address before their tribute is published.

When Email Tribute Validation is turned ON, Guest users will need to confirm their email address before their tribute is published. They will receive an email with a confirmation link they must click.

Requires users to confirm their email only the first time they would like to share a tribute on a Memorial page.

Email Tribute Validation

If Flagged Content is turned OFF, content that has been flagged will remain public until they have been Approved or Removed from the Requests Center.

If Flagged Content is turned ON, content that has been flagged will be hidden until they have been Approved or Removed from the Requests Center.

Hide Flagged Content

Language

Email Notifications

Are you sure you want to delete the Memorial for {name}? This action will permanently remove the memorial from the system.

Delete Memorial?

When Memorial Request Moderation is turned OFF, Memorials will automatically be published.

When Memorial Request Moderation is turned ON, Memorials will only be published if and when you approve them. Memorials can be published or deleted in the Requests center.

Memorial Request Moderation

Moderation Settings

This will permanently delete your account. The business account, and business page will not be deleted. To deactivate your account, there must be another admin user assigned to your organization.

Are you sure you want to deactivate this account?

When Override Tribute Moderation is turned OFF, the tribute moderation settings on Memorial pages will be hidden and other Keepers cannot override the tribute moderation settings specified by your organization.

When Override Tribute Moderation is turned ON, other Keepers can view and change the tribute moderation settings of the Memorial pages they manage. (Each Memorial page will default to the organization’s tribute moderation setting upon creation.) 

Override Tribute Moderation

If the AI Content Moderation is OFF, text areas containing profane language will be published.  Tributes can however be flagged and removed at any time.

If the AI Content Moderation is ON, text areas containing profane language will not be published and the user will receive an error message.

Gladys Ryder Obituary | Altogether