January 5, 1922 – June 14, 2020

FUNERAL SERVICE
Pastor Jim Pankow will officiate at the funeral service:
Saturday, Jun 20 at 10:30AM
At Grace Lutheran Church
411 Mariner Blvd
Spring Hill, FL 34609
(Masks & Social Distancing are requested inside the church.)

In addition to the in-church service, here are additional ways to participate:
– Live Audio is available in the church parking lot on FM 102.1
– The video feed will be available for viewing live and will remain available on the church’s facebook site:
https://m.facebook.com/SpringHillFloridaWELS/

MEMORIAL
Condolences for Lenore may be offered at 632 Kingston Ct, Apollo Beach, FL 33572.
Memorial Contributions can be sent in her honor to Grace Lutheran Church of Spring Hill, FL.

LENORE”S OBITUARY
Lenore Krueger, a resident of Port Richey, FL was called Home to be with her Lord on June 14, 2020 at the age of 98.5 years young.

Lenore is survived by her two sisters Ruth Hoepner and Vera Stark; her children Kathleen (Clyde) Saari, Barbara (Bob) Brunius, Linda (Tom) Mellinger, Rebecca (Jo) Baron and Daniel (Kimberly) Krueger; and her 10 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.

She is predeceased by her husband Harvey Krueger, her son Jim (Marie) Krueger, her brother Walter (Carla) Huth, and her parents William Huth and Florence (nee Luck) Huth.

Lenore was born in Wabeno, WI on January 5, 1922 to William & Florence Huth, and was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Wabeno, WI. She attended parochial schools in Colome SD and in Slades Corner, Kenosha and Milwaukee WI. She was confirmed on April 14, 1935 at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, WI with the Confirmation Vow: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”

After Lenore graduated from high school in Slinger, WI in 1939, her first job was doing housework in Whitefish Bay, WI. During her time off, she enjoyed Milwaukee’s Bradford Beach and roller skating where she met Harvey Krueger. He was drafted into the Army in 1942. Lenore moved home to Slinger and worked in a factory in Hartford and a lab at Cedar Lake. In August of 1945, Harvey came home from Germany and they were married Aug 10, 1945 at St Paul's in Slinger, WI and moved into the house on the hill overlooking West Bend, WI.

The marriage was blessed with 5 children; James, Kathleen, Barbara, Linda and Rebecca. Harvey and Lenore began taking care of foster children and they adopted their first foster child, Daniel George. They cared for 6 other foster children and loved spending time with her grandchildren.

Lenore’s devotion to her faith and her church guided her throughout her life. She raised her family in a Christian home with daily prayers, hymns and devotions. She has always been very active in her church throughout her life. She found ways to live her faith as she did volunteer work at Good Shepherd Lutheran in West Bend, WI. She served in leadership roles within the Lutheran Womens Mission Society (LWMS) in Wisconsin and Florida. Since moving to Florida in 2000, she has enjoyed Christian fellowship with her friends at Grace Lutheran Church in Spring Hill.

Lenore had several passions she enjoyed throughout her life, including getting out in nature, gardening & healthy living, baking, swimming, playing cards and spending time with friends.

Gardening was an integral part of her life as she pursued healthy living. She would always be happily humming her favorite hymns while she was out in the garden. Tending the huge garden with fruits and vegetables became a family affair in West Bend, growing plenty for the young family to eat fresh and then preserving enough to last through the long Wisconsin winters. Maybe part of the reason she kept such a large garden was to instill in her family a strong work ethic, and to know the value of working hard together for the common good. She did like to say “Idle hands are the devil’s playground.” When she & Harvey built their home on South Oak Drive near West Bend, they included fruit & vegetable gardens and many flower beds. Even upon moving to Port Richey, FL, Lenore enjoyed spending time out in her backyard garden beds, still happily humming the whole while.

Lenore spent many hours in the kitchen baking and cooking as she provided for her large family – happily humming away. After her family had grown, she was happy to work as the cook & baker at Cedar Lake Resort, WI for 30 years until she retired to move to Florida in 2000.

Swimming was a sport she enjoyed daily throughout her life. As a young family, she and Harvey drove the family to Miller Pond near Slinger, WI for near-daily family fun in the water – diving and racing out to the raft. Later at the S Oak home, she swam laps in the chilly water. After moving to Port Richey, she loved joining her Pool Pals at the YMCA as often as possible, always wearing her Sunhat covered in Flowers. She missed getting out and to the pool during the virus shutdown and was so elated to get back in the water with her Pool Pals a few weeks ago, she told her son-in-law simply, “I’ve gone to heaven.”

Lenore was a woman of deep faith and determination with an incredible work ethic that she demanded of herself and those around her. She was persistent in achieving her goals – whether it was continuing her water aerobics and gardening even as she was losing her sight or crawling into her house with a broken leg and recovering to continue living at home for 4 more years.

But, as hard as she liked to work, she also knew how to enjoy life with family and friends. Every Summer, the family piled into the station wagon for camping trips around Wisconsin and on roadtrips to the National Parks where hikes always took longer because she wanted to stop and look at every flower along the path. She and Harvey enjoyed square dancing, celebrating their German heritage at Oktoberfests and playing cards with friends.

In everything she did, it was always direct from the heart. She kept making new friends and throughout her life and she made an impact on many lives. Although she’ll be missed by many, we’re all glad that she lived an active and independent lifestyle her whole life. And, we know she’s happy to be up in heaven with her Savior, where she and Harvey are together, spending their days swimming and square dancing, and spending their nights playing Sheepshead. She probably has already started a little garden plot in heaven – and she’s probably still happily humming her favorite hymns.