Gladys Flatt, who was 98 when she passed away on March 31, 2014, was known as the wife of bluegrass legend Lester Flatt; however, Gladys was a talented performer and a bluegrass pioneer herself.
“I liked it when we played with Charlie Monroe,” Gladys told her hometown newspaper in 2002. “Charlie didn’t mind women singing in the group; and when he and his wife Betty found out I had sung with Lester, they asked me if wanted a job, too.”
Gladys met and married Lester Flatt when he was just 17 but already immersed into the local music scene. The young couple continued to work and make music together for the next decade.
Gladys not only helped to guide Lester's career but was also influential in helping to mold a young boy's musical interests. Lester had heard the boy sing and wanted to help him get a break in Nashville. The problem was the boy and his family lived in Mississippi. It was then that the young Marty Stuart moved in with Lester and Gladys and stayed with them for about three and a half years.
Gladys was born on July 29, 1915 and passed away on Monday, March 31, 2014. She was a resident of Sparta, Tennessee at the time of her passing and was preceded in death by her husband Lester. Funeral Service were on Wednesday, April 2, 2014 in the Chapel of Hunter Funeral Home with burial in the Oaklawn Cemetery.
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