William Joseph “Bill” Kester, 88, died Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011, at Kansas Heart Hospital in Wichita.
He was born Sept. 3, 1923, in Quincy, to Earl Orasho and Mary Olive (Hoggatt) Kester. He grew up on the farm in Quincy and attended Quincy High School through his junior year and then graduated from Toronto High School. After high school he served in the U.S. army and was a veteran of World War II.
After he completed his service, he and Norma Shepard were married on May 2, 1948, in Garnett.
He was a member of American Legion Post No. 13 and also First Baptist Church in Yates Center.
In 1957, he became sexton of the Yates Center Cemetery and served 54 years until his death. Other than his children, he had great passion for the grounds upkeep as well as record maintenance for the cemetery.
He is survived by his wife; two daughters, Connie Morrison and her husband, Gary, and Deb Burke and husband, Robert, all of Yates Center; four grandchildren, Laura Hegwald, Trent Morrison and girlfriend, Ronda Truelove, and Jolea Burke, all of Yates Center, and Travis Morrison and his wife, Rachel, Wichita; and three great-grandchildren, Melanie and Caleb Hegwald, Yates Center, and Alexis Barker, Chanute.
He was preceded in death by a brother; Alfred, and two sisters, Alice Reese and Elsie Merewether.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at Campbell Funeral Home in Yates Center. Internment, with military honors, will be in Yates Center Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Campbell Funeral Home.
Memorials to Yates Center Cemetery may be sent in care of the funeral home, P.O. Box 188, Yates Center, KS 66783.
‘Bill’ Kester
