Lester B. Branstetter

Saturday, August 7, 2004 at 11 a.m. at Waters Funeral Chapel in Vandalia, Missouri.
Officiating will be: Rev. Roger Thomas.
Music provided by: Barbara Elzea, pianist.
Interment will be in the Vandalia Cemetery.
Pallbearers: Randy Branstetter, Dr. James Thorne, James Thorne Jr., John Thorne, Daniel Thorne and Taylor Thorne. David Thorne and Garrett Thorne have been named as honorary pallbearers.

Lester Bland Branstetter passed away at 10:06 p.m. Tuesday evening, August 3, 2004 at the Boone Hospital Center in Columbia, Missouri after a lengthy illness. Lester was a 1938 graduate from Vandalia High School and after high school entered the U. S. Army during World War II. He served in the states and the European Theatre during the war. Upon leaving active duty, Lester attended and graduated from the Kansas City Watch Repair School. He came back to this area and went to work for Strother Jewelry store in Louisiana repairing clocks and watches. A few years later, he and George Strother opened a jewelry store in Vandalia that he worked at for many years. After they closed the store and retired, he opened the "Keywind Shop" that he operated out of a shop in his backyard until Lester completely retired from clock/watch repairs in 2002. He was a lifelong area resident and member of the First Christian Church and a member of the National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors.

Born: February 3, 1921 in the New Harmony area the son of William Henry and Minnie (Reed) Branstetter.

Married:

Survivors include: one brother, Ralph and wife, Dorothy Branstetter of Vandalia; one nephew, Randy A. Branstetter of Tulsa, Oklahoma and one niece, Mary Jane Thorne of Columbia, Missouri.

Preceded in death by: two sisters, Tracy (Branstetter) Showalter and Mildred Branstetter.

Memorials may be made to the First Christian Church, 205 W. Park, Vandalia, Missouri 63382