Josephine M. Wente

Funeral services for Josephine Marie Wente, 88, Lawrence, will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home. Burial will follow in Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens, Kansas City, Kan.
Mrs. Wente died Friday, June 11, 2010, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital after a long illness.
She was born June 18, 1921, in Kansas City, Kan., the daughter Ralph G. and Marie Katherine Kramer Culter. She graduated from Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kan., in 1939 and a year later from business college.
Mrs. Wente was a secretary for numerous years, working for Kansas City Power & Light, Prudential Insurance Co., and as a bookkeeper for Hertz Rent-a-Car. She was a member and past president of La Sertoma, member of the Phoenix Club and First Methodist Church, and was an avid lover of playing bridge in Lawrence for many years.
She married Gerald F. Wente on Oct. 27, 1946. They were married for 54 years and he preceded her in death on Dec. 6, 2000.
She was also preceded in death by her parents, Ralph G. and Marie Katherine Kramer Culter, and a brother, Ralph Gilbert Culter, Jr.
Survivors include a daughter Barbara J. Wente Linke and husband William R. Jr, Cordova, Tenn.; a son, Philip C. Wente, Lawrence; two grandchildren, Kelly J. Fortune and Paige M. Wente; two great-grandchildren, Taylor Renee and Jack Tanner Fortune; and a sister-in-law, Maxine Culter of Greeley, Colo., and her two children, David Culter and Cathy Simon.
Friends may call from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home. The family will receive friends from 9 a.m. until service time on Wednesday at the Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home.
The family suggests memorials to the Douglas County Visiting Nurses, Rehabilitation and Hospice Care, sent in care of the funeral home, 601 Ind., Lawrence, KS 660444.
Online condolences may be sent at rumsey-yost.com.