Lester Frank Kelton's Obituary
A funeral will be held at Rader Funeral Home on Friday, March 16 at 2:00 P.M. Lester Frank Kelton, 88, passed peacefully from this life at home Sunday, March 11, 2018 to sing with the angels.
He was born November 18, 1929 in West, TX to William Alfred and Dora Alice Kelton. On September 01, 1950 he married Betty Jo Mitchell of Shreveport, LA. They moved to Longview in 1959 so that Lester could open the M. E. Moses store on Mobberly Ave. He remained manager of that store for 34 years, where he was known by many as ‘Me Moses’, then retired in 1992. After his retirement from M.E. Moses, he worked for Hallmark for 8 years.
He was passionate about his family, his church, singing, and fishing. He joined First Baptist Church of Longview in 1970 and immediately joined the choir. He served as president of the choir one year, led singing in the Business Men’s Bible class for 25 years, and his Sunday School class for ten years. He was ordained a Deacon of First Baptist Church in 1998.
He loved to serve his community and was a member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge for 20 years, the Kiwanis Club for 30 years, and volunteered at the Kilgore Oil Museum for ten years.
He is preceded in death by his parents, his two sisters, and his two brothers.
Left to cherish his memory are his wife of 67 years Betty Jo Kelton; his daughters and sons-in-law Judy and Tommy Flewharty, Barbara and Mark Jones, and Susan and Paul Fowler; his grandchildren Allison (and Lloyd) Lassahn, Candice Flewharty (and Matt Brown), Elizabeth Flewharty, Barry Jones, Stefanie (and Curtis) Collier, Luke (and Caitlyn) Fowler and Blake (and Sheron) Fowler; and his 9 great grandchildren.
He also leaves behind his fishing buddy Bill Rollert, and best friends Glen and Lou Brown and Ruth and Leland Neeper.
The family would like to thank Trisha Riddle, the staff of Colonial Village, Heart to Heart Hospice, Dr. Larry Frase, and Dr. George Plotkin and Amanda Mullins of the ETMC Movement Disorder Center in Tyler.
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