WESTFIELD – Cora Grace (Karstetter) Decker was born on July 15, 1919 in Juniata, PA to Howard and Bertha (Whitesel) Karstetter. After graduating from Altoona, PA High School, she earned her RN diploma from Jefferson Medical College Hospital School of Nursing in Philadelphia, in 1941.She served as a 1st Lieutenant in the US Army Nurse Corps, 300th General Hospital during WWII, stationed in North Africa and Europe. After the war, she completed a graduate course in operating room technique at the Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago then worked as an operating room nurse supervisor at the former Cornell Medical Center in NYC. Cora also worked as a private duty nurse which provided the opportunity for extensive travel in South America and Europe.
In 1954 she met and married the love of her life, J. Philip Decker. They resided in Plainfield, New Jersey until 1991, when they moved to the Westfield/Southwick, MA area to be closer to their children and grandchildren. Cora was a longtime active member of the First United Methodist Church of Westfield.
She was predeceased by her husband, J. Philip, in 1993, and by her siblings, Robert Karstetter, Elizabeth Brantlinger Gehl, Jane Mayhue, Margaret Fees and Howard Karstetter. She leaves two loving daughters, Debra Anderson and husband Richard of Southwick, and Dinah Jacobsen and husband Eric of Westford, VT; four much loved grandchildren, Amy and Kristen Anderson and Philip and Corinne Jacobsen; a brother, Charles Karstetter of Altoona, PA; and numerous nieces and nephews.
A Memorial Service will be scheduled at a later date at First United Methodist Church and in lieu of flowers, donations in Cora’s memory may be directed to the First United Methodist Church, 16 Court Street, Westfield, MA 01085 or the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation NE Chapter, 60 Walnut St., Wellesley Hills, MA 02481. For more information, please visit us at:
