Fred Koster

Born on April 8, 1929, in Galveston, Texas, to Johann Freidrich Koster, Jr. and Mabel Sutcliffe Lakin Koster, Fred’s life was a testament to family, a sense of responsibility, and good times.

Shortly after his birth, Fred's family returned to Kansas City, Missouri, where he spent nearly all of his life. He remembered hard years, including the Great Depression, and among his most vivid childhood memories was a Sunday afternoon when the paperboy came down the street yelling, “EXTRA! Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor!”

Fred worked a variety of summer jobs during his teenage years, including a stint as a ranch hand in Oklahoma where Roy Rogers was filming a movie, and at a local flour mill, where he loaded 50-pound bags of flour onto rail cars. As the only non-black member of the loading crew, Fred would joke that by the end of each shift, they were all the same color, covered in flour.

Fred graduated from Westport High School in 1946 and went on to earn a spot on the Kansas State College football team as a walk-on in a story that would make Rudy proud. Fred lettered on the first football team to integrate the Big Seven Conference in 1949. He played lineman on both sides of the ball. His lineman size came in handy not only on the field but at local lunch counters when, joined by his teammates of color, he occasionally had to request service “somewhat assertively.”

Fred’s college career was interrupted by a call to serve his country. The Army sent him to Germany during the post-war occupation, where he met the love of his life, Sophia Luise Ignatia Maier. They married in 1953 and returned to Kansas City, spending 65 years together, devoting their lives to their family and their many pets, until Luise’s passing in 2018.

Professionally, Fred built a successful career in meat sales, starting with Wilson & Company and later moving into sales with a food brokerage. His outgoing personality and knack for bantering with anyone he met were perfect for sales. Even in his retirement, one could not enter a place that he frequented and not hear, “Oh, we love Fred.”

A big man with a soft heart, Fred rescued and adopted strays that appeared at his door, entertained hundreds of birds at his year-round feeders, spent hours selecting and nurturing flowers in his garden, donated regularly to the Special Olympics, and sometimes teared up at sentimental sports movies and while telling stories of the combat veterans he met in the Army.

Fred found his greatest fulfillment in his family, good wine, golf, football, Fun House Pizza, and his garden, usually in that order. In his retirement, he marshaled at Royal Meadows golf course and played in senior men’s leagues there and at Adams Pointe, until his failing health intervened. He purchased his first Kansas City Chiefs season tickets in 1967, and his name remains on those tickets 57 years later.

Perhaps nothing captures the spirit of the last 40 years better than Fred’s love of wine and his ability to find exceptional wines at reasonable prices to share with his family. Rare was the occasion when a family visit did not involve a lively conversation around something from the cellar. And when the final 17 drops were at last poured from the bottle, all would anxiously wait to hear him slowly utter the now immortal words, “We have a situation."

Fred is survived by his son Kevin (Judy), daughter Karen, cherished cat Bruno, three grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, a niece, two nephews, and their families. He was predeceased by his wife Luise and his daughter Susan.

Private family Mass of Christian Burial at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to KC Pet Project, Special Olympics, or the Ahearn Fund at Kansas State University.