Elizabeth Minden

Elizabeth Alvina Minden, age 84, died Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008, in Paola, Kansas. She was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on June 22, 1924, the daughter of Otto and Selma (Alpert) Minden. A year after she was born her family moved to Los Angeles, California, and ten years later moved back to Paola to care for her mother"s parents, Fritz and Augusta Alpert. Her early grade school years were at First Lutheran in Paola, and she finished grades 7 & 8 at the rural Block grade school of Trinity Lutheran. She was confirmed by the Rev. O. C. J. Keller, on April 10, 1938, at Trinity Lutheran Church. After the death of the Alpert grandparents her family returned to Los Angeles, where she finished high school and later attended Woodbury Business College. Her graduation present from Woodbury was a vacation trip to Paola with her father where she became engaged to Lester Windler who was on leave from the Navy. She returned to California and worked two years for Doctor Robert Kennicott, a heart specialist in downtown Los Angeles. She married Lester Windler on December 22, 1944. After living in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Manhattan, Kansas, they moved to the Windler home place, in rural Paola, Kansas in 1948. For many years they raised their family of four children on the dairy farm. In 1971 her husband, Lester was admitted to the VA Hospital, and their marriage later ended in divorce. Lester died September 10, 1994. Elizabeth married Ralph Minden on February 1, 1975, and they lived in Shawnee, Kansas, and then later moved to rural Paola, where both of them had many friends and relatives. Her second husband died, October 16, 1987, and after living alone for a few years, in 1992, she moved in with her daughter and made her home in rural Paola, and was again close to the Block community. With the continuing disability of Parkinson"s disease, she became a regular passenger in the family car with a walker and wheelchair in tow. She spent her last six months at North Point Nursing Home in Paola. Elizabeth is survived by her children, Timothy (Julie) Windler, Rebecca (Brett) Stutzman, Greg (Karen) Windler, and two stepchildren, Gary Minden, and David (Kathy) Minden, and a sister Velma Pontius of Encino, California. She was preceded in death by her parents and daughter, Christine Stephens. She was also the loving grandmother of Dusty Weis, Joey and Ellen Stephens, Martin Stutzman and Megan (Gabriel) Evans, Jaryl Davis Anne and Arielle Minden, and Brandt Minden, and great grandmother of Derek and Daryan Weis, and Addison Evans. Elizabeth was baptized into the Lutheran faith and will be laid to rest in the loving hands of her Risen Lord and Savior at Trinity Lutheran Church, Block, Kansas. Block Trinity Lutheran Church Service: Saturday, September 06, 2008 10:30 AM Visitation: Friday, September 05, 2008 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM