Elva Gladney
Obituary

Elva Gladney passed away peacefully at her home in hospice care at age 74 on August 10, 2026.  Born to John Lee and Martha Pearl Crawford, December 2, 1951, she is survived by her husband Gerald Gugerty; her daughter Laura Gladney-Lemon, son-in-law Alex Gladney-Lemon, and granddaughter Brooks Gladney-Lemon; Gerald's five children Jocelyn (Antonio) Hernandez, Everett Gugerty, Keith (Eugene) Gugerty, Kevin (Julie) Gugerty, and Gerald William (Zachariah) Gugerty, along with their six children; and her sister-in-law Colleen Crawford and Colleen's family Meredith (Dunston) Sellstrom, Melanie (Kyle) Winston, and Kyle (Stacie) Crawford, and numerous grand nieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by her parents, her two brothers infant John Lee Jr, Michael, first husband John Robert Gladney and their son John Daniel (Danny) Gladney.

After graduating from Baylor University in Waco, Tx with a degree in education she became a life-long teacher.  She taught in several High School districts including Corsicana, Austin and Pflugerville, Texas.  Throughout her tenure as a history teacher in Pflugerville she often explored how she could broaden her impact on student learning in Texas.

In 2000 she was recruited by the University of Texas (UT) to help start the UTeach Liberal Arts high school teacher training program, and just after that, a position opened on the Board of Trustees of Pflugerville Independent School District (PISD).  She "threw her hat into the ring" and won the position by four votes.

Following her conviction that "peace in this world depends on people understanding each other," she also began work on a project between the Aga Khan Development Network and the State of Texas.  In 2003, she was instrumental in organizing a foundational cohort of 18 Texas teachers with the mission of building a curriculum informed by direct one to one exposure to Muslim societies rather than contemporary media narratives.  Taking teachers to India, Egypt, Tanzania and Pakistan, the hugely successful project helped shape Texas educational curriculum and furthered a relationship between the Aga Khan and the State of Texas that continues to this day.

A long-time member of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in the Well’s Branch area of Austin, she took her faith seriously.  She was an early advocate for LGBT rights in society and in her high school classes, casting a 2012 vote that made PISD the first school district in Texas to approve domestic-partner benefits for its employees.  She retired from UT in 2007 and served on the PISD Board of Trustees until 2015, with her last two terms as Board President.

A history teacher with a dream of expanding her impact on student learning, Elva Gladney leaves a legacy of educational values, mutual understanding, and enduring peace. It is a legacy that has impacted countless students and with roots that reach around the world.