Eugene Koester


Eugene Julius Koester

Eugene Julius Koester, 61, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, died Friday, June 7, 2002, in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

He was born April 14, 1941, in Carroll, Iowa, to Julius Fritz Gustov Koester and Eunice (Lamp) Koester of Manning, Iowa. He started school in Aspinwall, Iowa. The family moved to Minnesota in 1948, then on to Bismarck, North Dakota, before moving to Newcastle, Wyoming.

In 1959, he graduated valedictorian of his class from Newcastle High School and was a member of the National Honor Society. He received the Bosch-Lomb four-year honorary science scholarship and was credited with organizing the national honor society in the school.

Mr. Koester went on to attend the University of Wyoming, where he was involved in ROTC. He graduated in 1963 with a bachelor's degree in Architectural Engineering. After graduation, he was commissioned in the United States Air Force, serving as a military staff engineer for Base Civil Engineering on SAC Bases at Spokane, Washington, Guam and Goose Bay Labrador, leaving the Air Force at the rank of Captain in 1968.

He began working for the Omaha District Corps of Engineers in the Constructibility Review Branch, Construction Division in 1969. His first Resident Engineer assignment came a year later at the Ammunitions Plant at Grand Island, Nebraska. He later served at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, then became Chief of Construction and Project Maintenance in 1975 at Garrison Dam, Riverdale, North Dakota. He led the Black Hills Area during its infancy in the fall of 1983 as the Acting Area Engineer until being assigned at F.E. Warren AFB Resident Office in 1984, where he stayed until his retirement in December 1999 after 35 years of service.

Mr. Koester loved snowmobiling, hunting, fishing, reading and tinkering with computers. He was a former member of the Riverdale Chapter of the American Legion and the Sakakawea Roughriders Snowmobiling Club.

Mr. Koester is survived by his wife, Susan W. Koester; his mother, Eunice Lamp-Koester-Baillie-Rumple of Fontanella, Iowa; and a "sister," Jodi Lesnikowski.

Cremation has taken place at Cheyenne Memorial Gardens under the direction of Wiederspahn-Radomsky Chapel of the Chimes.

Memorial services will be Sunday, June 30, 2002, at Good Samaritan Care Center in Fontanella, Iowa.