A. Russell Kaster

A. Russell Kaster of Ocala, FL, passed away on July 30 at the age of 102. A proud veteran of World War II, he was devoted to his family and beloved by his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Born on November 18, 1922, to Emma (Meyer) Kaster and A. Russell Kaster in New York, New York, he was educated in the city's public schools, with an enthusiastic extracurricular interest in the big bands of the day. Following high school, he began his working life as an electrician's assistant at the National Sugar Refining Company of Long Island City, New York-in part because he had been recruited to play on the company's softball team-and continued there until his induction into the U. S. Army in January 1943. Though he had never traveled outside New York City, much less abroad, he adjusted to Army life and served in England and France with a unit that provided logistical support after the D-Day invasion. After returning to the States in August 1945 and receiving his discharge in December of that year, he resumed his civilian employment and on January 20, 1946, married his childhood sweetheart, Gloria Kaman. While welcoming the birth of two sons, the family continued to live in New York City until 1957, when they moved across the Hudson River to New City, New York. There the family settled and the children grew, and beyond his daily work Russell took great delight in passing along to his sons his passion for baseball. Formerly a star pitcher in one of New York's thriving industrial softball leagues, he continued to play the game in his new surroundings into late middle age and coached his sons and their Little League teammates, taking pride in seeing one of the sons go on to college with a baseball scholarship. After he retired from Orange and Rockland Utilities, Russell and Gloria found a new home in Ocala in 1995, and when she became ill he was her devoted caregiver until her death in 2001. Russell then began a new chapter when he married Marilyn (Nadeau) Mothershead in 2002 and was embraced by her family, who saw in him (as one family member put it) "a remarkable person with the kindest heart and a beautiful soul." He was preceded in death by his loving wife of fifty-five years, Gloria Kaster; he is survived by Marilyn Kaster, the loving wife with whom he shared his last twenty-two years; by his loving sons Robert (Laura) and William (Sandra) and their children and grandchildren; and by Marilyn's loving children, Ken (Nina), Susan, and Mark (Anita) Nadeau, and their children and grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Roberts of Ocala. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on August 7 at Our Lady of the Springs in Ocala (10:30 am, viewing at 9:30 am); burial will follow at Good Shepherd Memorial Gardens.