Eleonora Schneider Koester 1902 - 2003

KOESTER, SCHNEIDER, HINZ, EUSTANCE, WILSON, BLACKENHAGEN, ARCHER, JOHNSON, BURKE, MUELLER

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 10/21/2004 at 14:06:59

Funeral service for 100-year-old Eleonora Koester was conducted by the Rev. Mark Peterson at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in the Immanuel Lutheran Church at Livermore. Burial was in the LuVerne Cemetery with the Wilson Funeral Home of Livermore in charge of arrangements.

Casket bearers were Allan Jay Wilson, Del Blackenhagen, Randy Archer, Bruce Johnson, James Burke and Mark Mueller.

Attending as honorary bearers were Charles Blackenhagen, Paul Muller, John Mueller and David Koester.

Eleonora Schneider, daughter of Fred W. and Martha Hinz Schneider, was born October 17, 1902 in rural LuVerne, IA. She attended parochial school and was confirmed in the Lutheran Church at LuVerne on April 16, 1916. After Eleonora graduated from LuVerne High School in 1922, she attended summer school at Cedar Falls, then taught in rural Humboldt and Kossuth County schools.

Eleonora was married to Lionel Eustace at LuVerne on April 22, 1926. They lived at Akron where they operated a restaurant and later managed filling stations at Clear lake and LuVerne. After Lionel's death on October 29, 1944, Eleonora taught for three years in a rural school east of LuVerne. She resumed her education at Drake University in Des Moines and during her 12 years of teaching in the LuVerne Public School, she taught all of the grades three through six.

Eleonora married Adolph Koester on August 14, 1960 and they lived on a farm west of LuVerne which was her birthplace. They enjoyed traveling to many countries in the world and in 1973, she and Adolph moved into Livermore.

Eleonora was a life-long member o the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church and a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church at Livermore since 1950. She was active in the ladies aid and quilting group and also taught confirmation classes. She was also a longtime member of the Friends and Neighbors Club.

Eleonora Koester died Saturday, August 9 2003, in the Covenant Medical center at Waterloo.

She is survived by two daughters, Erna, Mrs. Delmar Blankenhagen of Cedar Falls and Lorraine, Mrs. Allan Wilson, Kansas City, MO; a step-son, Herman Koester and his wife, Lorraine, Albuquerque, NM; and two step-daughters, Henrietta, Mrs. Robert Mueller, Cedar Rapids and Adeline Koester of St. Paul, MN. She has 15 grandchildren, 45 great-grandchildren, 11 great-great-grandchildren and a sister-in-law, Anna Schneider of Sparks, NV. Her husbands and parents preceded her in death.