Gloria Jean (Newman) Kloster, 74, died May 4, 2022, at Avera Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D. The oldest of four children, she was born in Sioux City, Iowa, to Donald Alfred and Elsie (Fowler) Newman on Christmas Eve, 1947. She grew up in Sioux City, Iowa; Homer, Neb.; Paulina, Iowa; and Madison, S.D., before the family moved in 1957 to Clark, S.D. She graduated from Clark High School and attended South Dakota State University in Brookings S.D., where she and her high school sweetheart, Martin G. “Marty” Kloster, were married on Sept. 11, 1967. Upon his ROTC commissioning, they became an active- duty Army family, traveling the world for 27 years and 19 moves. She served in many volunteer positions assisting and advocating for soldiers and their families, including as supervisor of Army Community Service, as a seven-year delegate to the Department of the Army’s Family Action Plan Symposium and as leader of family support groups for over 1,900 family members in a battalion whose soldiers were deployed in support of Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm and for more 2,400 members in a brigade that was spread throughout the Pacific Rim. She was selected as a Department of the Army certified trainer for the inaugural Army Family Team Building Program. She also served in a variety of volunteer positions in officers’ wives clubs worldwide, including president of the Fort Huachuca, Ariz., and Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., clubs, as well as an advisor and board chairman for military community thrift shops and Army family team building groups stateside and overseas. In addition to being nominated for Army Wife of the Year, she received numerous unit awards for her service and was awarded the Department of the Army Commendation Medal for Public Service from three separate Major Army Commands. She was a graduate of the Old Masters’ Art Academe Ad Modum Maroge in Boeblingen- Sindelfingen, Germany, and earned a degree in interior design from Monterey Peninsula College in Monterey, Calif. She taught watercolor and oil painting classes and was a juried member and president of the Eagle’s Eye Art Gallery in Monterey. She worked as the customer service manager for a financial publication firm in Alexandria, Va.; as a private English instructor in Sagamihara, Japan; as an instructional assistant for special education students in Alexandria, Va., and Brookings, S.D.; provided complimentary interior design classes for military families stateside and overseas; and taught Western-style interiors at a Japanese design school. Upon his retirement from the Army in 1997, they returned to Brookings, S.D., where she continued her volunteer service. She served seven years on the Brookings Historic Preservation Commission and stayed actively involved in community preservation issues. She was a member of the Brookings Woman’s Club and, with Marty, served as a cadet mentor through the SDSU ROTC Department. She joined the Optimist Club of Brookings in 1997, where she served in a variety of club officer positions and then continued in at zone, district and international levels. Highlights of her Optimist service were the years she served as the Brookings Optimist Club president (2001-02), as governor of the Dakotas, Manitoba, Minnesota District (2004-05) and as international vice president of the Great Plains Region (2010-11). Her interests included collecting antiques, restoration of their 1885 home, re-upholstery, Hawaiian-style quilting, entertaining, traveling, reading and especially “Grandma Time.” She also enjoyed collecting Christmas ornaments from the places they visited. She is survived by her husband, Marty; daughter, Michelle Downing; son, Martin Kloster; and numerous grandchildren. She was preceded in death by an infant sister, Patty Ann Newman; brother, Donald Ray Newman; and sister, Susan Oja. A celebration of life will be held at 11 a.m. May 13, at Clark Center Lutheran Church in Clark, S.D., with Paster Gary Anderson officiating. Visitation will take place for one hour preceding the service. Interment will follow at the Clark Center Cemetery.