Vernita M. Kuester, 93, passed away peacefully Monday, March 9, 2009, at Gibson General Hospital. She was born October 20, 1915 to Joseph and Anna (Kiesel) Schaefer and raised on a farm southeast of Fort Branch. She was a lifetime homemaker and farmers wife. She was a member of Holy Cross Catholic Church and a charter member of St. Bernadette's Auxiliary (1937). She loved her husband, family, dancing and talking to people. We will miss her and may God be with her. She was preceded in death by her husband of 67 years Arnold Kuester (April 1, 2007); sisters Frances Seib, Marie Goedde, Cecilia Baehl, Mildred Sensmeier; brothers Edwin Schaefer and Paul Schaefer. Vernita is survived by four daughters Jo Ann (Mike) Marquess of Arkansas, Coleen (Wayne) King of Huntingburg, Celesta (Richard) Thompson of Sullivan, Bernadine (Bill) Read of Elberfeld; three sons Fred (Martha) Kuester of Fort Branch, Devon (Janet) Kuester of Fort Branch, Thomas Kuester of Tennessee; twenty-one grandchildren; thirty-seven great-grandchildren. A Mass of Christian burial will be 11 a.m. Friday, March 13, 2009 at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Fort Branch, Indiana with Reverend Father Tony Ernst, Reverend Father Gary Kaiser, Reverend Father Bernard Lutz, Reverend Father John Silva, and Deacon Steve Hall officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery. Friends may call from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, March 12, at the Stodghill Funeral Home in Fort Branch with Rosary Services at 7:30 p.m. and St. Bernadette's Auxiliary Memorial service immediately following. Friends may also call from 10 a.m. until Mass time at the Church on Friday, March 13. Memorial contributions may be made to Holy Cross Catholic Church, 302 E. Walnut Street, Fort Branch, Indiana 47648, the Passionist Nuns, 8564 Crisp Road, Whitesville, Kentucky 42378, or Apostolate for Family Consecration (AFC), Seminary Road Route 2 Box 700, Bloomingdale, Ohio 43910.