Patricia Jean Coester

Services for Patricia Jean Coester, 79, Lawrence, will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery.Mrs. Coester died Sunday, July 30, 2006, at Brandon Woods Retirement Community.She was born Oct. 5, 1926, in Leavenworth, the daughter of Fred and Margaret J. Brown Frey. She attended schools in Leavenworth, Topeka, Dodge City and Lawrence, where she graduated from Liberty Memorial High School in 1944.Mrs. Coester worked in the investigation department at Sunflower Ordinance Works for a year. She worked for the Lawrence school district for 30 years, starting as an elementary school secretary and retiring as director of budgeting and accounting in 1989.She was a member of First Presbyterian Church, Knife and Fork Club, and Widows and Widowers Group. She married Hillard J. Coester on Nov. 22, 1945, in Lawrence. He died June 13, 1998.Survivors include three sons, Fred, Denver, Judson, Leawood, and Dan, Lawrence; a sister, Margaret Davidson, Kirkland, Wash.; two grandchildren; two stepgrandchildren; and five stepgreat-grandchildren.Friends may call from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. today at the funeral home.The family suggests memorials to Douglas County Visiting Nurses Assn., sent in care of the funeral home.Online condolences may be sent at www.rumsey-yost.com.