Bertha Dube Lester

Bertha Dube Lester, passed away on October 4, 2012. Rosary, 7 p.m., Sunday, October 7; Service, 10 a.m., Monday, October 8, both at Downing Lahey Mortuary West. Bertha was born April 30, 1926 in Bristol, CT to Corrine Mary Legere and Alphonse Dube. Throughout her youth, Bert was a buyer for a large Connecticut department store, worked in a ball bearing factory, and sang occasionally with several of the large traveling bands in the 1940s. The high school graduate married John Robert Lester, a World War II C-46 pilot, in 1945, and supported John while he worked his way through college and graduate school at the University of Connecticut after the war to earn his PhD in Psychology in 1954. The Lesters moved to Wichita, KS in 1959 and set up a successful 35-year private practice in Psychology. Bert was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. John R. Lester, and her sister, Arlene Dobbins of Bristol, CT. She is survived by a second sister, Beryl Chard; two sons, Gary R. Lester and wife, Penny of Albuquerque, NM, and Mark R. Lester and wife, Katherine of Wichita, KS; four grandchildren, Alan Lester of Wichita, Neil Lester of Bellville, IL, Pat Lester of Evergreen, CO, Amy Larson of Evergreen, CO and three great-granddaughters. In lieu of flowers, please make contributions to the Kansas Food Bank.