Retirees Association

Celesta Ann Warner, 74, College of Nursing & Health

Celesta Warner

Celesta Ann Warner, 74, of Kettering, passed away peacefully at home on August 23, 2018.

She was born on November 13, 1943 to Robert and Ruth Lorenzen in Berkeley, Calif. Celesta worked as a nurse educator at Miami Valley Hospital and Wright State University. She enjoyed a long career training other nurses how to welcome new life into the world as an obstetric nurse. It has been a source of pride for her daughters who have encountered Mom’s students over the recent years to hear how much they valued their mother’s instruction.

Celesta attended the University of Michigan where she received her nursing degree and where she met Duane singing in the choir at First Church, Ann Arbor. Duane was at U. of M. for his Ph.D. after he graduated from The Ohio State University where he also played on the football team. They attended many rivalry football games together with Celesta in her blue and gold regalia and Duane in his scarlet and gray. They married on December 19, 1964. They moved to Kettering, where they made their home for 49 years and raised three daughters. Celesta later continued her education with a master’s in nursing from Ball State University.

She was an active member of Christ United Methodist Church for 49 years where she was a musician in the Bell Choir and the Chancel Choir. Celesta also contributed to the work of the United Methodist Women. Celesta enjoyed gardening, extensive holiday decorating and beautiful holiday family dinners. Celesta loved camping and enjoyed the yearly family camping vacation to her favorite destination, Petoskey, Mich.

Celesta and Duane proudly shared long friendships with “The Sharing Group,” a group of friends cultivated over many years of church attendance, vacations, and family time whose focus was a shared desire to provide a Christian environment to live and raise a family. Celesta often described raising a family as an effort that required a village, and this group was her village.

Celesta is survived by her loving husband, Duane; daughters, Wendy (Doug) Ransom, Lori Warner-McGee, and Erin (Ben) Pryor; four grandchildren, Graeme and Grayson Warner-McGee and Gavin and Emory Pryor; and sister, Susan (Lee) Griffin, whose children are Leanne and Scott Griffin.