Gloria Werner died in May 2014 after a 17-month battle with lung cancer. She was 79. She and her then-husband, Clarence L. Werner, founded Werner Enterprises in 1956 with one truck. She worked there until she retired from the business in 1984. Werner Enterprises now operates internationally and has about 13,000 employees and independent contractors. Gloria Werner started out doing the bookkeeping, and eventually oversaw financial transactions and handled regulatory reporting to various government agencies. Werner was born Oct. 27, 1934, on her family’s farm in Petersburg, Nebraska. She met Clarence Werner at the wedding of her brother and his sister, and a long distance courtship ensued. They married and settled in Council Bluffs, where they founded Werner Enterprises. In 1977 the company moved to Omaha, where Gloria Werner lived out the rest of her life. In addition to her daughter Gail Werner-Robertson, Werner is survived by her children Gary Werner, Greg Werner and Curt Werner; 12 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.