Gladys Spurgeon died in 1966 at age forty-two, ten years before the first of her four grandchildren were born. She was an excellent elementary school teacher, but her health deteriorated, and she finally had to give up the classroom several months before she died. Her son, Sid Spurgeon, was seventeen when he lost his mom. The Grandmother We Never Met was written by him for his adult children. The story is his clearest recollection of the short time that he had with his mother. The book is personal and true and was written with great care and compassion for his kids and his mother. It's sad, touching, uplifting, and as good a look at their grandmother as he could give them.