Richard Krause Is February Veteran Of The Month

By Doug KapkeRichard H. Krause was honored as Jefferson County’s Veteran of the Month on Tuesday, February 6, 2024, by the county commissioners. In addition, he was presented with a patriotic wall hanging by Marley Rosener. Krause was born November 4, 1939, in the Mennonite Hospital in Beatrice. He had three brothers and one sister.Krause attended eight years of grade school at District 62, which at the time was located two miles east of the Bower and the Highway 15 intersection north of Fairbury. Krause attended one year of high school at Plymouth and the remaining three years at Fairbury, graduating in 1957. While still a senior in high school he joined the Fairbury National Guard at age 18. At the time, the Fairbury National Guard was under the command of Captain Harold Adams. Merle Beetley was employed full time at the National Guard Armory. Richard cannot recall that there were any Basic Training requirements at the time. All two week summer camps were spent at Camp Ripley in Iowa. Private Krause remembers firing Marksman, Sharpshooter and Expert with the M1 rifle and .45- caliber pistol. He fired expert with the 81mm mortar. He was trained as a Heavy Weapons Infantryman, which he suspects likely accounts for his poor hearing in his senior years.Private Krause considered his military obligation fulfilled in November, 1964. He is also a former Quilt of Valor recipient. Krause farmed with his dad when he was in high school and, upon graduation, worked for Dempster Windmills in Beatrice for about one year. The company closed in about 1959 due to windmills being of lesser importance to the rural economy. In 1959, Krause began working for Schmitt Implement in Daykin, where he continued his love of International Tractors.Krause married his wife, Elanor, in 1962.In 1965, Krause began working as a grader operator for the Jefferson County Highway Department, a career that lasted for 37 years. In 1973 the family moved to a home west of Bower, where they raised their two boys and a girl. Over the years, and especially after retirement in 2004, Krause and Elanor enjoyed restoring International Tractors and both enjoyed going to and participating in “Tractor Pulls.” Though they enjoyed going to tractor pulls in Iowa and Kansas, they mostly participated in events in Nebraska towns like Milligan, Nelson, Ruskin and Superior.Until recently, the Krauses heated their home with wood and raised geese, ducks, chickens, cattle and hogs. Krause also enjoyed bailing small bales of alfalfa, prairie hay and brome grass in the surrounding community. After 62 years of marriage both Richard and Elanor are slowing down and currently enjoy rural living along with enjoying their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

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