Harold L. Krauss

1926 - 2019

(News story) DELTA, Ohio - Harold L. Krauss, who worked long hours to support his family, on his Fulton County farm and at two service stations he co-owned, died under hospice care at the Fulton County Health Center on Wednesday, which was his 75th wedding anniversary. He was 93.

He had developed a brain bleed, said Jay LeFevre, a son-in-law.

Mr. Krauss grew up on a farm and for decades grew corn, soybeans, and oats in Swancreek Township. Early on, he raised 1,500 chickens as well.

"He took great pride in having perfectly straight rows, and that was before GPS and everything else," Mr. LeFevre said. "My wife and other kids would help work in the fields. He had a love of it from his family."

From the mid-1950s until 1969, he was a co-owner of Sunoco stations in Swanton and in Delta.

"He was trying to provide. He had five kids," Mr. LeFevre said.

"He was never one to boast. He would go out and do things that needed to be done - the right way for the right reason," Mr. LeFevre said. "When he was farming and doing the gas stations, he was working long hours. He was doing what had to be done to take care of the needs of his family.

"He would be quiet, but confident. And driven - a determined kind of a personality," his son-in-law said. "He was a deeper thinker than people would realize."

He sold his farm acreage in 1981, yet still kept track of the factors affecting those whose livelihoods depended on successful harvests - as in this spring's heavy rains that kept farmers from planting on time or at all.

"He had empathy with what they were going through," Mr. LeFevre said.

He was born June 21, 1926, to Elizabeth "Bessie" and Godlob "Jack" Krauss. He was a 1944 graduate of Delta High School, where he met his wife.

He was an Army veteran of World War II, serving in the Philippines and, after V-J Day, in occupied Japan. He later was in a National Guard ordnance company.

Mr. Krauss was a member of the American Legion post in Delta.

He was a longtime member of Trinity Lutheran Church.

He and his wife traveled in retirement and, with relatives, made several trips to Branson, Mo. He golfed on vacation and around Fulton County into his 70s. A favorite spot for years was their place on Wamplers Lake in Michigan's Irish Hills, where his parents had built cottages.

With the need to keep farm and farm house running smoothly, he learned electrical, plumbing, and other repairs.

"I was not much of a handyman, but he helped me with major projects," Mr. LeFevre said. "He had a knack for taking on challenges and getting things done."

His daughter, Janet Steusloff, died in March, 2016. He also was preceded in death by great-grandchildren Jaxson Donald Andrews and Adrianne Smith.

Surviving are his wife, the former Mary Fortney, whom he married June 26, 1944; daughters Penny Sintobin, Teresa Wurns, and Marcy LeFevre; son, Bruce Krauss; brother, Phillip Krauss; sister, Carol Knouase; 10 grandchildren; 29 great-grandchildren, and 10 great-great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Barnes Funeral Chapel, Delta.

The family suggests tributes to Trinity Lutheran Church, Delta, or the Fulton County Senior Center, Wauseon.

This is a news story by Mark Zaborney. Contact him at mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.