Westra, Lt. Col. John P. 1941-1980

WESTRA, KOOI

Posted By: Paul Van Dyke-volunteer
Date: 6/13/2021 at 20:33:34

Source: Sioux County Index (12-3-1980)

Born: January 19, 1941
Died: November 25, 1980

Doctor Westra served his Family Practice residency in San Bernardino, California. For the past ten years, Doctor Westra has served as a Family Practice physician in the United States Air Force, stationed at Spokane, Washington, the Philippines, Mather Air Force Base in Sacramento, Hahn Air Force Base in Germany and for the past one and a half years as Assistant Director, then Director of the Residency Program in Family Practice at Elgin Air Force Base in Florida.

Doctor Westra leaves behind to mourn, his wife Rebecca, and a son, Jason, age four. Survivors include his parents, the Reverend Peter and Edna Westra, a sister, Mrs. Donna Paige of Rapid City, South Dakota, a brother, Mark of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, a sister, Dr. Ruth Frahm of Mr. Clemens, Michigan, and a host of other relatives and military friends.

On Saturday, November 29, a memorial service was held in the Presbyterian Church , Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Interment was in the Hope Cemetery, Hull, Iowa, near his paternal grandparents.

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Source: Sioux County Index (12-3-1980)

Lt. Colonel John P. Westra, age 39, Lake Lorraine Circle, Shalimar, Florida died November 25, 1980, in West Florida Hospital, Pensacola, Florida. Cause of death was a dissection of the left internal carotid artery which led to stroke and hemorrhage.

John was born January 19, 1941 in Little Falls, New York to Reverend and Mrs. Peter J. and Edna (Kooi) Westra, later moving to Indiana, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota with his parents who served in the United Presbyterian Church. He graduated from Flandreau, South Dakota High School, Central College in Pella, Iowa and the University of Iowa Medical School. There he received his Doctor of Medicine Degree plus a special Master’s Degree in Anatomy.