Pauline Craft

Helen Pauline Craft, known as Pauline Craft, joined her husband Dave and her Lord and Savior Jesus in Heaven on Wednesday September 11, 2024. She was in her home in Garden City, Kansas with DeAnn and John by her side. She was 95 years old.
Pauline is survived by her three children, John (Tammy), Rege (Maria), and DeAnn; by her grandchildren, Jason, Katy, Sarah, Jacob and Rebecca; and by her two great-grandchildren, Thiery and Zoey. She is also survived by her sisters-in-law, Marjorie, Carol, and Norma, and by Russ Peterson.
Pauline accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior as a young girl and lived her life in service and devotion to Him, and to her family. Her favorite Bible passage was Psalm 23, which she recited by heart every night, where she would add her personal postscript at the end.
She was born in Quinter, Kansas on May 10, 1929, to her mother, Helen Claire Tustin and her father, Merwyn Peterson. Growing up during the dust-bowl years forced her and her mother to move frequently in order to find work. Stops included Illinois; Cleveland, Ohio; Missouri; and Pascagoula, Mississippi before claiming Garden City as home. Pauline also had family ties to Quinter, Gove, and Oakley Kansas where her mother's side of the family lived.
She received her teaching certificate from Emporia State Teachers College. She taught in Gove, Kansas, and after meeting the love of her life, Dave, was married in Hays, Kansas on May 28, 1950 at 8:30 in the morning.
They moved to Hugoton, Kansas where Dave taught and coached basketball and where she worked in the high school administrative office, and she also drove the boy's basketball team van to out of town games. After moving back to Garden City, she continued working as a bookkeeper at various businesses and became a full time Mom during the lives of her three children. When they were grown, she returned to work part time at Hoover's Fashions and The Linen Gallery.
Pauline had many interests and loves in her life, and was a life-long "do-er". First and foremost, she loved her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and her family. She loved national parks and made sure her children experienced them, as nearly every summer the family vacation would include one or more national parks.
She was committed to lifelong health and when she was 70 years old, hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon on July 4th in 110-degree heat. In her later years she walked and exercised regularly until she was 94 and a half.
She loved her church and her church family and was a lifelong member of the First United Methodist Church along with Dave, where they were also both members of the Builders Sunday school class.
After Dave retired from teaching, Pauline and he went on many, many mission trips. They traveled to Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica and Spain, some destinations multiple times, where they dug waterways, built churches, slept on dirt floors, and did whatever needed to be done. Through service and action, Pauline witnessed to many people in those areas. She was affectionately known as "Paulina" in Mexico. In the United States, they spent time in the Appalachian hill country, worked at a soup kitchen in Los Angeles, were able to vacation to Alaska and travel to the Holy Land.
She had a deep love for animals and sports, and remained a lifelong learner. She was creative and artistic, and decorated her home for every holiday. She enjoyed creating her backyard oasis, gardening, refinishing furniture, painting various small projects. Pauline was always coming up with unique projects and ideas unique to her. She loved hiking, El Zarape Restaurant, visiting Garden Valley Retirement Home residents, watching Wheel of Fortune and enjoying Sunday lunches at Ward's Garden Center with her church friends. She simply loved people. Age didn't limit her circle of friends.
Pauline lived a life of joy and peace, and was always willing to serve or help whomever and wherever she could. She lived the life she wanted to live, had the family she wanted to have, and faithfully attended and supported in every way, the church she wanted to attend and support. Her life was full, and she lived with no regrets.
While her family will miss her bright smile, her beautiful eyes and her bright personality, they also know that they will see her before they know it. And even though her earthly life was good, her eternal life in Heaven is incomparable to life on Earth.
She is at home, and at peace; and is enjoying the company of those who went home before her. She is now sitting at the table that Jesus has prepared to welcome her home. Her head is anointed with oil, and her cup truly does runneth over.
Her service will be on Saturday September 28th at 1PM at the First United Methodist Church, located at 1106 N Main Street, followed by a graveside ceremony and balloon launch at Valley View Cemetery.
Garnand Funeral Home of Garden City is handling all arrangements and will be streaming the service live on their Facebook page.
Pauline loved flowers, however, if someone would rather make a memorial contribution, the family asks those donations be made to the First United Methodist Church of Garden City, Kansas.