Henry Glenn Kester, 82, long-time Osawatomie resident, died January 25, 2003 in Miami County Medical Center in Paola.

Known as Glenn, he was born March 20, 1920 in Boicourt, KS, the son of William Henry and Susie Elizabeth Moore Kester. The family moved to Osawatomie in 1921 where he attended local schools, graduating in 1938 from Osawatomie High School.

With World War II looming, he joined the U.S. Army with the 127th field artillery and served for five years. He spent 3=1/2 years in Europe from Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge and finally into Germany.

On Jan. 1, 1946, he and Edith Esther Quincy, a local school teacher, were married in Paola. They spent their first three years together in Columbus, MT, where Mr. Kester took his apprenticeship as a meat cutter.

In 1949 they moved back to Kansas and settled in Olathe. In 1950 they moved to Osawatomie where they have since lived. Mr. Kester was a longtime employee at Ralph's Food Center in Osawatomie and also worked for Missouri Pacific Railroad and Weavers Furniture, where he was a salesman, both in Osawatomie, and at Taylor Forge Engineered Systems in Paola.

He was an active member of the First Baptist Church, a member of Osage Valley Lodge No. 24, A.F.&A.M., Hanlin-Kelly Post No. 2258 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and York Rite Masons, all in Osawatomie.

He loved fishing. Rivers, lakes, farm ponds, even the Atlantic Ocean, gave up fish to the fishing lines he threw in.

Those preceding him in death included a granddaughter, Sherri Diane.

Survivors include his wife, Edith Kester, of the home; his children, Richard Kester of Olathe, Gary Kester of Enid, OK, and Sharon Ingram of Edmond, OK; a sister, Maxine Fairchild of Louisburg; a brother, Bennie Kester of Columbus, MT; seven grandchildren; and four great-grandsons.

Services were held in the church. Pallbearers were Shane Ingram, Jeff Stallings, Chris Stephens, Bruce Baker, Marion Stites and Les Ridenour. Honorary pallbearers were Carl Wittenbrink, Francis Troutman and Ernest Jones. Masonic services were a part of the rites. Burial was in Osawatomie Cemetery with military honors.

Memorials were to the church and Osage Valley Lodge No. 24. Arrangements by Edd-Birchard Funeral Home in Osawatomie.