1/21/1925 – 6/24/2015
“Don’t get old…but the alternative isn’t so great!” This became one of William’s favorite sayings in his final years and on June 24, 2015, at 90 years young, William Theodore Costen finally succumbed to the alternative & had his homecoming. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska on January 21, 1925 to William James & Mary Lou Costen. Baptized in the Catholic Church in 1939, he transferred from Howard Kennedy to St. Benedict Catholic School, later attending Technical High School, before quitting to work at Woolworth Five & Dime and later earning his GED. As an ambitious & inventive young boy, he would take his mother’s homemade popcorn & popcorn balls to sell in the neighborhood in order to help out at home. This endeavor evolved into a stand, where he sold kool-aid, candy, bubble gum, popcorn & pop – making him an entrepreneur at the age of 10. After being drafted into the Army at 18, his career went on to include work at Blackstone Hotel, Union Pacific Railroad and Armour & Company. When Armour closed in 1968, he went to work for Omaha Public Schools, before finally retiring in 1987.
Married to his 1st wife in 1946, he & Delores Jeanette Gordon had 4 children (William, Carmen, Stephen and Lorraine) before she passed away in 1957. In 1963, he married Thelma Lee Tucker, who bought along her son (Tony), making them a family of seven. He became a widower once again in 2009.
A long-time member of the Benedict Club & Hope Lutheran Church, he made friends everywhere he went. He enjoyed working in the yard, tinkering around the house, talking to loved ones, watching tv & eating sweets.
He is survived & will be greatly missed by sons William of Hartford, CT, Tony of Louisville, KY, and Stephen of Atlanta, GA; daughters Carmen and Lorraine of Atlanta, GA; grandchildren Tracy, Keelan, Michael and Arielle of Atlanta, GA, Tonya of Vallejo, CA, Stacy and Marcus of Louisville, KY, Jarrell of Hartford, CT and Chantal of Washington, D.C.; and great-grandsons, Kelvin of Vallejo, CA and Michael of Atlanta, GA.
VISITATION is on Thursday from 6-8 P.M. at Roeder Mortuary – Ames Chapel.
FUNERAL is on Friday at 11 A.M. at Hope Lutheran Church 2721 N. 30th Street Omaha, Nebraska.
INTERMENT will be on 7.6.15 at 11 A.M. at Forest Lawn Cemetery.
