Shirley B. (Huckins) Krause, long-time resident of Peabody,
Kansas, and loving wife of William (Bill) Verne Krause, died April 13, 2022 in
Newton, Kansas. She was 95 years old. Shirley was born at the family homestead
between Belleville, Kansas, and Chester, Nebraska, the youngest of five
children. As a child, she was inspired by Shirley Temple, who was two years her
junior. Like Temple, she loved to sing, dance, and act. She was in starring
roles in her school productions and was known to have a special talent for tap
dancing. She was very popular in the one-room schoolhouse she attended as a
young girl.
Shirley was introduced to Bill Krause on a blind date just
after Bill had returned from serving in World War II. Eventually, she succumbed
to his charms and they were married on August 11, 1946. They remained happily
married for sixty-five years until Bill?s death did they part in 2011. Shirley
helped support Bill while he attended Kansas State University, pursuing a
degree in journalism. After graduation, the young couple worked in the
newspaper business, buying their first local newspaper in Konawa, OK, in 1952,
and then purchasing the Peabody Gazette-Herald in 1954. During the 43 years of
operating the Peabody newspaper, they also acquired five other small-town
newspapers and had shares in two others. Eventually, through sales and
consolidations they reduced their holdings to the Peabody Gazette-Bulletin,
which they sold in 1997 due to Bill?s failing health.
Shirley and Bill were a complementary team in all their
endeavors and they could dance with the best of them ? doing the Jitterbug,
Charleston, you name it. Shirley was the loving mother of two daughters,
providing the family with a happy home and a solid upbringing. She was an avid
bridge player and a very active Peabody socialite. She was a good, kind,
thoughtful, generous, beautiful person, inside and out, and ever so
fashionable. Remarkably elegant and refined, she excelled in social graces and
had exceptional style. She made the world a better place for all who knew her.
Shirley was preceded in death by her husband, William V.
Krause; father, William O. Huckins; mother, Esther Mitchell Huckins; sister,
Guila Huckins George; brothers, Gerald, Willis, and Doyle Huckins; and nephew,
Richard A. George.
Survivors include her two daughters, Koni Foster of
Franklin, North Carolina, and Denise Krause, of Ashland, Oregon; five
grandchildren ? William, Duane and Adam Jones, Andrea Adeyanju, and Alexander
Krause; seven great-grandchildren; and niece Sharyn (Huckins) Baybayan of
Chester, Nebraska.
The funeral service will be at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, April
19, 2022, at Peabody United Methodist Church in Peabody, Kansas. Burial will
follow the service at 2:30 p.m. at Chester City Cemetery in Chester, Nebraska.
Visitation will be held the evening prior from 5:00 p.m. ? 9:00 p.m., Monday,
April 18, 2022 at Petersen Funeral Home in Newton, Kansas.
Please send memorial donations to the Peabody Historical
Museum at 214 N. Walnut St., Peabody, KS 66866, with Peabody Printing Museum in
the subject line.
