Elmer Francis Kruse

Elmer Francis Kruse passed away peacefully at home on Monday, December 09, 2019. He was born in West Valley, New York, a small town southeast of Buffalo; the second son of Frank and Nellie (Harrington) Kruse. On graduating from high school in 1946, Elmer enlisted in the Navy spending 20 months on the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown. One of several duties he had was to be on the flight deck for all take offs and landings - a total of about 4,000. He often said that was where the action was! After being discharged from the Navy, Elmer attended Fenn College (now Cleveland State University) where he met his future wife, Margaret Whitacre. They were married in August 1953. In the fall of 1956, Elmer accepted a job with Boeing and they moved to Seattle (WA) where he completed his college studies receiving concurrent Bachelor degrees in math and mechanical engineering. Elmer & Margaret had two daughters: Katherine and Mary. His work with Boeing took the family to New Orleans (LA), Wichita (KS), Huntsville (AL), back to Seattle (WA) and finally to Gresham (OR) where he retired from Boeing in April of 1994 after a 37-year career. Elmer moved to Bend in the summer of 1994 and was soon riding his bicycle on country roads - logging over 3,000 miles a year. He also enjoyed hiking with a church group and was an avid cross country skier. Photography was another hobby Elmer enjoyed throughout the years. First on his "bucket list" was to visit and photograph as many National Parks and National Monuments as possible; a total of 69. Elmer added many pictures from trips to Arizona, Montana, Utah, eastern Washington and at least 11 visits to Alaska where he photographed grizzly bears, bald eagles and the Aurora Borealis from locations north and east of Fairbanks. Elmer photographed all but one of the Oregon lighthouses and had recently started taking pictures of fireworks displays on the 4th of July. His slide shows were legendary amongst his friends although these days done via a computer. Elmer was quite proud of his Red Cross blood donation tally; 24 gallons as of this year! Elmer was preceded in death by his wife, Margaret, and by his brother, Ralph. He is survived by his daughters, Kathy Parenteau and Mary Foland and his nieces Sharon Sylvester (Ron), Barbara Rackette and Jean Bloomer (Neil). In lieu of flowers, Elmer has requested donations be made to The American Cancer Society.

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Elmer Francis Kruse

May 7, 1928 - December 9, 2019