Maxine Steinkraus

MAXINE STEINKRAUS
ITHACA - Maxine Steinkraus, 89, died Friday, December 8, 2006, at her home, surrounded by her loving husband and her five children. She was born and raised on a farm in Litchfield, Minnesota. She is predeceased by her parents; brother, Roy; and two sisters, Ruthie and Margie. Maxine loved education and worked her way through the University of Minnesota, where she received a degree in home economics in 1940. She taught high school in Bertha, Minnesota, where she met the love of her life, Keith Steinkraus, and got to know him during ice skating and cross country skiing parties. They celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary on August 26, 2006.
Maxine was a devoted wife, mother and homemaker. She is survived by her five children, Bonnie, Nancy, Donald, Anna, and Karen; 11 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
Maxine loved to travel and lived for various periods in the Philippines, England, Switzerland, and Singapore with her husband. She was a passionate walker, swimmer, hiker, tennis player, reader, and nature lover. For many years she and Keith were the first each spring to swim in the cold waters of Seneca Lake and the last to swim in the fall. Maxine cherished her many friends. If the true treasure of life is measured by the love one gives and receives, as Jesus and Tolstoy indicate, then Maxine's life was incredibly rich.
Maxine was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Geneva, New York, a regular attendee of Sage Chapel at Cornell University, season ticket holder for Cornell and Ithaca College Theaters, and a member of the Seneca Yacht Club.
A memorial service and celebration of Maxine's life and her husband's is planned for June 8, 2008 at 2 p.m. in Sage Chapel on the Cornell Campus.
Memorial contributions may be made to Second Harvest or CARE.
For further information, contact Bangs Funeral Home, Ithaca.