Lee R. Olmsted

A service of remembrance for Lee R. Olmsted, 76, Ottawa, will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at First United Methodist Church in Ottawa.Mr. Olmsted died Saturday, March 8, 2007, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.He was born May 20, 1931, in Clearwater, Neb., the son of Roy M. and Meta Wulf Olmsted. He graduated from Golden City High School in Missouri in 1949. He studied industrial arts at Pittsburg State University, where he played four years on the basketball team and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1954. He also received the Mr. Basketball award and served as junior class president. He moved to Ottawa in 1956.Mr. Olmsted was in the ROTC Program at Pitt State and later served in the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant. He taught at Ottawa High School for nine years. He owned and operated Olmsted Electric Inc. in Ottawa for more than 40 years and retired in June 2006. He was a member of First United Methodist Church, the Kiwanis Club and Ottawa Main Street Association. He was a member of the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, where he was instrumental in Christmas lighting for the city of Ottawa and was chairman of fundraising and construction for Haley Park. Mr. Olmsted enjoyed flying airplanes, golfing, fishing, water and snow skiing, sail boarding, hobby farming and wood working. He especially enjoyed spending time with family and friends, golf cart rides with grandchildren and was an avid KU basketball fan.He married Sue Newmaster on May 30, 1954, in Galesburg. They shared more than 53 years of marriage. She survives, of the home.Other survivors include two sons, Randy Olmsted and wife Cherilyn, Ottawa, and Rick Olmsted and wife Shanda, Ottawa; a daughter, Lori Gardiner and husband Robert Gardiner, Overland Park; two sisters, Vera Davenport, Walnut Creek, Calif., and Jean Lewis and husband John, Meadows, Texas; nine grandchildren, Brian, Kelsey and Madison Gardiner, Kyle and Kelci Kost, Parker, Claire, Megan and Molly Olmsted; and many nieces and nephews.Mr. Olmsted was preceded in death by his parents; and an infant son, Kent Alan Olmsted, on March 9, 1960.The family suggests memorials to First United Methodist Church or the Lee Olmsted Vocational Scholarship Fund at Ottawa High School, sent in care of Lamb-Roberts Funeral Home, P.O. Box 14, Ottawa, KS 66067.