Florence L. Wester

Florence L. Wester, three weeks shy of her 98th birthday, died late Sunday night October 14 in the home of daughter Janet and son-in-law Tom Kirk and their daughter Jessica. She had just moved to Connecticut a month earlier from Fairfax, Virginia after saying goodbye to her daughter-in-law Dani, granddaughter Marisa and her husband Ricky Smith, and great grandson Max, as well as many friends after living there for over 60 years. Her granddaughter Nina, who now lives in Seattle, visited her grandmother mid-September in Connecticut. She is also survived by her cousin Jules and wife Ruth Netter who live in Florida. She had grieved the loss of her husband Robert and son Eric. She was intensely independent, kind and generous, smart and stubborn, ruthless at pinochle, and the queen of one-liners.

Florence was a big city girl from Philadelphia who married a city guy and, after serving in the WAVES during WWII, spent her adult years in Northern Virginia raising two kids, painting, scouring antique shops, volunteering, teaching ESL and making amazing vegetable soup. In her later years she and Robert went wandering and had adventures with their grandkids. In the last few years she wrote her life story, And So It Was, in her inimitable fashion.

On Saturday, November 10, we will celebrate her life, tell stories, laugh and cry at a memorial service at the Alderson-Ford Funeral Home of Cheshire, 615 S. Main St from 2:00 pm until 4:00 pm, led by Tom’s sister, Tricia. To leave online condolences for her family or to share a story of Florence, please visit www.fordfh.com

In lieu of flowers the family requests you hug someone you love… and eat chocolate ice cream – her favorite.