Wayne O. Kester was born in Cambridge, NE. He graduated High School from Cambridge High in 1925 and went on to attend the Nebraska State Teachers College at Chadron NE. His pre-veterinary work and degree of doctor of Veterinary Medicine was with Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS. After two years of general practice in Kansas and Ohio, Kester was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Regular Army Veterinary Corps in July 1933.

Kester's Army career included Army Medical Field Service School, and serving with the First Cavalry Division. In June of 1937 he was reassigned to Walter Reed General Hospital graduating from Army Veterinary School and reported to Seattle WA to serve as port and deport veterinarian until 1939. Kester was reassigned to the Hawaiian Island where he served as port and deport veterinarian until war was declared Dec 7, 1941.He was at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack. While stationed at Pearl Harbor, Kester was working on good ways to get fresh food to the troops overseas. During his time there he developed the process for making powdered mild and the process for canning chicken and meat. At the end of the war he was ordered to Washington DC for duty in the Office of the Surgeon General, as chief of the Meat and Dairy Hygiene Branch directing the worldwide Army veterinary food inspection service. See documents for more information about Wayne Kester. Kester is buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery Denver, Co.