Obituaries

October 17, 1928 – October 20, 2022

Douglas Arthur Kraus, 94, died peacefully in his residence at Masonic Homes the evening of October 20, 2022, going home to be with his beloved wife, Elsa Baker Kraus, the day before what would have been her 90th birthday.

Born to Harold and Loma Mable Kraus in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, and raised in the state of his birth, Doug was an Eagle Scout who received the first “God and Country” award in that state. He graduated from LaCrosse Central High School and moved to Dallas, Texas, to attend Southern Methodist University, from which he earned a BA in 1952 and was named an ROTC distinguished graduate.  At SMU, he met and married his fraternity’s dream girl, Elsa Jean Baker, in 1953, and spent the next 59 years loving her, making a home together and traveling the world for pleasure and in the service of his country. When Elsa was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, Doug cared for her in their Plano, Texas, home with unswerving devotion until her death in 2012.  Elsa and Doug had two children, a daughter, Laurie, who survives him, and a son, Scot, who died in 2003.

Doug was a career officer in the United States Air Force, serving almost 25 years in Strategic Air Command first as a bomber navigator and later as a chief of reconnaissance and intelligence.  He served in Korea and Vietnam, flying B29’s, B36’s and B-52’s, and continued his service as Chief of Intelligence on three bases in the United States in Oklahoma, Michigan, and Louisiana. He was an excellent officer, promoted ahead of grade four times. He retired at the rank of Lt. Colonel while serving his last two assignments in a position generally assigned to a full colonel. He told his daughter numerous times that he would have been promoted if only he hadn’t lost his temper and yelled at his commanding officer.  Despite this brief lapse into freedom of speech, Doug was a highly decorated and valued member of the Air Force, and was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal, numerous combat and service medals, and the Bronze Star.

Upon his honorable retirement in 1976, Doug and Elsa moved to Plano, Texas with their son Scot, where they were members of Canyon Creek Presbyterian Church and long-time anchors of the church choir. Doug turned his experience in leadership and intel into service as an Elder at Canyon Creek, chairing the Board of Trustees, the Worship Committee, two pastor nominating committees and one choral director nominating committee.  A man of deep faith, Doug was also a professed doubter, never ceasing to ask deep questions about the nature of believing, belonging, life and death, and was an avid reader of progressive Christian theology, despite being a life long social conservative. For 40 years, Doug and his daughter enjoyed “lively” discussions about theology and social justice. Some of the best of these were conducted during the pandemic by Laurie, Doug and granddaughter Gillian Hollis while sharing “socially distanced” but verbally robust box lunches at the picnic tables near his Louisville apartment.

Doug never met a stranger, spent most of each day calling everyone he knew to see how they were doing, and routinely embarrassed his family by making endless jokes with random strangers in not-always-appropriate settings. His humor sustained him, and those near him, through his final days. Throughout his life, Doug established and maintained countless deep friendships across the country and the world and was devoted to his family and to the adult children of his closest friends, sustaining a family of birth and choice whose everyday doings and accomplishments were an endless source of interest and pride to him.  He will be deeply missed. A memorial service will be held on December 17, 3 pm, at Springdale Presbyterian Church in Louisville, KY. His ashes will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery. The link for online participation in the service is:  https://www.facebook.com/springdalechurch

Those who wish to remember Doug might join him in his life-long passion for righting the historic wrongs perpetuated against Native Americans, through a gift to the Native American- Alaskan Native Peoples Fund held at the Presbyterian Foundation of Presbyterian Church (USA). Information or donations at: https://wwwpresbyerianfoundation.org/nativeamericanchurches/