Frank E. Kloster

Frank E. Kloster

(1929 - 2020)

Frank Ellis Kloster passed away this week after a long and eventful life. He was just months short of 91 years old. Frank survived his wife of nearly 70 years, Darlene Mae (Passer) Kloster, who passed away in 2018. Frank and Darlene grew up in Forest City, Iowa, where his parents, Bert and Ethel Kloster, owned the butcher shop. Frank enlisted in the Navy in 1950 when he and Darlene were married, and began his tour aboard a Navy ship during the Korean War. While in the Navy, he served as a hospital corpsman, and with the help of the G.I. Bill he completed both college and medical school in Iowa. Frank had a long and successful career as a cardiologist and researcher at Oregon Health Sciences University, in Portland, Oregon, where he and Darlene raised their family of five children. He led a very active life in the Pacific Northwest that included camping and hiking with his family, mountain climbing, ocean fishing and serving as Scoutmaster for each of his four boys. In retirement, he and Darlene built their dream home on a wooded acreage near Newberg, Oregon, where he filled his days working outdoors and his shop. Frank will be laid to rest with Darlene at the Willamette National Cemetery in Portland with full military honors. He is survived by sons Kurt (Rhonda), Mark (Tracy) and Tom (Deb) Kloster and his daughter Carol (Mark) Hart, along with nine grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. His wife Darlene and oldest son Peter (Theresa) Kloster preceded him in death. Donations in his name can be made to the American Heart Association and St. Luke Lutheran Church in Portland.