Elizabeth J. Kraske

Jan Kraske, a wife for 51 years, mother of three and a one-time head of the Lakeview Hospital nursing staff, died Monday afternoon at the hospital. She suffered complications from surgery the week before. She was 76. A memorial service will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Ascension Episcopal Church, 215 N. Fourth St., Stillwater. She was a traveler who led occasional delegations of friends to Paris and Provence. She was also a cook with many specialities, although her extra-thin chocolate-chip cookies will be long remembered. Jan was a regular church-goer at Ascension, a gardener, a Democrat with strong opinions and an avid quilter who had just completed a trio of gems for grandchildren before she died. Mom was pretty direct. As a nurse, she didn't lavish sympathy on bearers of cuts and bruises or football injuries. She told great stories about the time she spent in Berlin with her father following World War II and described the sights and sounds of the Berlin Airlift. Jan is survived by her husband, Bob; her children: Steve of Kansas City; Phil of Guadalix de la Sierra, Spain; and Lisa of Lake Elmo; and four grandsons. She was always, always a presence, and she will be greatly missed. In lieu of flowers, memorials preferred to Ascension Episcopal Church.

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