Trudy Lester, 89, passed away peacefully at her home in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, due to complications from a stroke, on September 26, 2011.Her family was at her side.
Born Gertrude Marie Osweiler in Sigourney, Iowa on June 13, 1922, Trudy was seventh in a family of ten children. In 1941 she married Air Force pilot Floyd Bair who was killed in a plane crash six months later. In 1945 she married Ray R. Lester, an Air Force fighter and test pilot. They lived throughout the United States and abroad, including Alaska, Nevada, Texas, Tripoli and Etain, France, where Major Lester was killed in 1958 when his F-100 malfunctioned and crashed. Trudy and Ray had two daughters, Toni and Renee.
Following her husband’s death, Trudy returned from France to her family in Iowa and settled in Des Moines to raise her children. She graduated from the Mercy School of Nursing in 1961 and worked as a registered nurse at Mercy Medical Center and Des Moines General Hospital. At Des Moines General, Trudy helped to establish and led the hospital’s first Intravenous (IV) therapy team. She was a tireless volunteer at Holy Trinity Catholic Church and School; her work included the organizing of funeral suppers and social gatherings for the church’s senior members and she was a Eucharistic Minister. After her retirement from nursing in 1995, she volunteered for many years at both Mercy Medical Center and Mercy Hospice of Des Moines.
In 2008 Trudy relocated from Des Moines to Fort Walton Beach, Florida, where she remained active as a volunteer at the Eglin Air Force Base Pharmacy and Emerald Coast Nursing Home and was member of Holy Spirit Parish at Hurlburt Field AFB. Throughout her life Trudy was admired for her talents as a seamstress; she created everything from curtains to wedding gowns and dresses, to surgical scrub caps for her numerous family and friends. She loved to entertain and to travel.
Trudy approached life with a joyful optimism and quick wit that touched everyone she met. Her boundless affection for her children, family and her countless friends was always apparent in her beautiful, engaging smile. She is survived by her daughters, Toni Wurth (Dr. Harrison B. Keller) of Mary Esther, Florida, and Renee Byers (George E. Byers) of Bronxville, NY, four grandchildren, Michelle Wurth, Bryan Wurth (Lori Wurth), Alexander Byers and Nina Byers, one great-grandson, Edison Wurth, her sisters Rita Navarre and Jody Bair, one brother, Leo Osweiler and numerous nieces and nephews.
A memorial and celebration of life Mass will be held at Holy Spirit Church, Hurlburt Field AFB, Florida, in early December. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Regency Hospice of Northwest Florida, 11 Racetrack Rd NE, Fort Walton Beach, FL 32547-1882, (850) 226-4166.
Used with permission from Davis-Watkins Funeral Home.
Born Gertrude Marie Osweiler in Sigourney, Iowa on June 13, 1922, Trudy was seventh in a family of ten children. In 1941 she married Air Force pilot Floyd Bair who was killed in a plane crash six months later. In 1945 she married Ray R. Lester, an Air Force fighter and test pilot. They lived throughout the United States and abroad, including Alaska, Nevada, Texas, Tripoli and Etain, France, where Major Lester was killed in 1958 when his F-100 malfunctioned and crashed. Trudy and Ray had two daughters, Toni and Renee.
Following her husband’s death, Trudy returned from France to her family in Iowa and settled in Des Moines to raise her children. She graduated from the Mercy School of Nursing in 1961 and worked as a registered nurse at Mercy Medical Center and Des Moines General Hospital. At Des Moines General, Trudy helped to establish and led the hospital’s first Intravenous (IV) therapy team. She was a tireless volunteer at Holy Trinity Catholic Church and School; her work included the organizing of funeral suppers and social gatherings for the church’s senior members and she was a Eucharistic Minister. After her retirement from nursing in 1995, she volunteered for many years at both Mercy Medical Center and Mercy Hospice of Des Moines.
In 2008 Trudy relocated from Des Moines to Fort Walton Beach, Florida, where she remained active as a volunteer at the Eglin Air Force Base Pharmacy and Emerald Coast Nursing Home and was member of Holy Spirit Parish at Hurlburt Field AFB. Throughout her life Trudy was admired for her talents as a seamstress; she created everything from curtains to wedding gowns and dresses, to surgical scrub caps for her numerous family and friends. She loved to entertain and to travel.
Trudy approached life with a joyful optimism and quick wit that touched everyone she met. Her boundless affection for her children, family and her countless friends was always apparent in her beautiful, engaging smile. She is survived by her daughters, Toni Wurth (Dr. Harrison B. Keller) of Mary Esther, Florida, and Renee Byers (George E. Byers) of Bronxville, NY, four grandchildren, Michelle Wurth, Bryan Wurth (Lori Wurth), Alexander Byers and Nina Byers, one great-grandson, Edison Wurth, her sisters Rita Navarre and Jody Bair, one brother, Leo Osweiler and numerous nieces and nephews.
A memorial and celebration of life Mass will be held at Holy Spirit Church, Hurlburt Field AFB, Florida, in early December. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Regency Hospice of Northwest Florida, 11 Racetrack Rd NE, Fort Walton Beach, FL 32547-1882, (850) 226-4166.
Used with permission from Davis-Watkins Funeral Home.
Trudy Lester, 89, passed away peacefully at her home in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, due to complications from a stroke, on September 26, 2011.Her family was at her side.
Born Gertrude Marie Osweiler in Sigourney, Iowa on June 13, 1922, Trudy was seventh in a family of ten children. In 1941 she married Air Force pilot Floyd Bair who was killed in a plane crash six months later. In 1945 she married Ray R. Lester, an Air Force fighter and test pilot. They lived throughout the United States and abroad, including Alaska, Nevada, Texas, Tripoli and Etain, France, where Major Lester was killed in 1958 when his F-100 malfunctioned and crashed. Trudy and Ray had two daughters, Toni and Renee.
Following her husband’s death, Trudy returned from France to her family in Iowa and settled in Des Moines to raise her children. She graduated from the Mercy School of Nursing in 1961 and worked as a registered nurse at Mercy Medical Center and Des Moines General Hospital. At Des Moines General, Trudy helped to establish and led the hospital’s first Intravenous (IV) therapy team. She was a tireless volunteer at Holy Trinity Catholic Church and School; her work included the organizing of funeral suppers and social gatherings for the church’s senior members and she was a Eucharistic Minister. After her retirement from nursing in 1995, she volunteered for many years at both Mercy Medical Center and Mercy Hospice of Des Moines.
In 2008 Trudy relocated from Des Moines to Fort Walton Beach, Florida, where she remained active as a volunteer at the Eglin Air Force Base Pharmacy and Emerald Coast Nursing Home and was member of Holy Spirit Parish at Hurlburt Field AFB. Throughout her life Trudy was admired for her talents as a seamstress; she created everything from curtains to wedding gowns and dresses, to surgical scrub caps for her numerous family and friends. She loved to entertain and to travel.
Trudy approached life with a joyful optimism and quick wit that touched everyone she met. Her boundless affection for her children, family and her countless friends was always apparent in her beautiful, engaging smile. She is survived by her daughters, Toni Wurth (Dr. Harrison B. Keller) of Mary Esther, Florida, and Renee Byers (George E. Byers) of Bronxville, NY, four grandchildren, Michelle Wurth, Bryan Wurth (Lori Wurth), Alexander Byers and Nina Byers, one great-grandson, Edison Wurth, her sisters Rita Navarre and Jody Bair, one brother, Leo Osweiler and numerous nieces and nephews.
A memorial and celebration of life Mass will be held at Holy Spirit Church, Hurlburt Field AFB, Florida, in early December. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Regency Hospice of Northwest Florida, 11 Racetrack Rd NE, Fort Walton Beach, FL 32547-1882, (850) 226-4166.
Used with permission from Davis-Watkins Funeral Home.
Born Gertrude Marie Osweiler in Sigourney, Iowa on June 13, 1922, Trudy was seventh in a family of ten children. In 1941 she married Air Force pilot Floyd Bair who was killed in a plane crash six months later. In 1945 she married Ray R. Lester, an Air Force fighter and test pilot. They lived throughout the United States and abroad, including Alaska, Nevada, Texas, Tripoli and Etain, France, where Major Lester was killed in 1958 when his F-100 malfunctioned and crashed. Trudy and Ray had two daughters, Toni and Renee.
Following her husband’s death, Trudy returned from France to her family in Iowa and settled in Des Moines to raise her children. She graduated from the Mercy School of Nursing in 1961 and worked as a registered nurse at Mercy Medical Center and Des Moines General Hospital. At Des Moines General, Trudy helped to establish and led the hospital’s first Intravenous (IV) therapy team. She was a tireless volunteer at Holy Trinity Catholic Church and School; her work included the organizing of funeral suppers and social gatherings for the church’s senior members and she was a Eucharistic Minister. After her retirement from nursing in 1995, she volunteered for many years at both Mercy Medical Center and Mercy Hospice of Des Moines.
In 2008 Trudy relocated from Des Moines to Fort Walton Beach, Florida, where she remained active as a volunteer at the Eglin Air Force Base Pharmacy and Emerald Coast Nursing Home and was member of Holy Spirit Parish at Hurlburt Field AFB. Throughout her life Trudy was admired for her talents as a seamstress; she created everything from curtains to wedding gowns and dresses, to surgical scrub caps for her numerous family and friends. She loved to entertain and to travel.
Trudy approached life with a joyful optimism and quick wit that touched everyone she met. Her boundless affection for her children, family and her countless friends was always apparent in her beautiful, engaging smile. She is survived by her daughters, Toni Wurth (Dr. Harrison B. Keller) of Mary Esther, Florida, and Renee Byers (George E. Byers) of Bronxville, NY, four grandchildren, Michelle Wurth, Bryan Wurth (Lori Wurth), Alexander Byers and Nina Byers, one great-grandson, Edison Wurth, her sisters Rita Navarre and Jody Bair, one brother, Leo Osweiler and numerous nieces and nephews.
A memorial and celebration of life Mass will be held at Holy Spirit Church, Hurlburt Field AFB, Florida, in early December. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Regency Hospice of Northwest Florida, 11 Racetrack Rd NE, Fort Walton Beach, FL 32547-1882, (850) 226-4166.
Used with permission from Davis-Watkins Funeral Home.
Gravesite Details
Widow, Date interred: 4/21/2012
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