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Dorothy (Schmalz) M. Kruse

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Service Information

Dorothy Marcella (Schmalz) Kruse, age 94, wife of Edward, formerly of Buffalo Lake, Minnesota, passed away on Wednesday, August 10, 2022, with her family by her side.

Memorial Service will be held Friday, August 19, 2022, at 11:00 A.M. at Zion Lutheran Church in Buffalo Lake, Minnesota, with interment following at the church cemetery.

Gathering of Family and Friends will be held Friday, August 19, 2022, from 10:00 - 11:00A.M., one hour prior to the service at the church.

Visitation/Gathering
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church
228 5th Street NW
Buffalo Lake, MN
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Service
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church
228 5th Street NW
Buffalo Lake, MN
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Funeral Chapel
Dobratz-Hantge Funeral Chapel
899 Highway 15 South
Hutchinson, MN 55350
Phone:(320) 587-2128
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Cemetery
Zion Lutheran Cemetery (Buffalo Lake)
Buffalo Lake, MN
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Obituary

Dorothy (Schmalz) Kruse passed away August 10, 2022, at the age of 94, with her family at her side. She was born February 26, 1928, on the family farm in Preston Lake Township of Renville County, MN. Dorothy was the daughter of Wilhelm and Elsa (Flemming) Schmalz. She was baptized and confirmed at Zion Lutheran Church in Buffalo Lake, MN. After graduating from Buffalo Lake High School in 1945, where she was valedictorian of her class, she graduated from St. Cloud State Teacher’s College. The first schools she taught were in Winthrop and St. James, MN.

On June 8, 1954, Dorothy married Edward Kruse, also from Buffalo Lake. This was the start of an interesting lifestyle that required many moves due to her husband being in the Navy. She then taught in Bath, Maine. While her husband was aboard ship, she returned to MN and taught in Bloomington, and then back at Winthrop. She later taught in New Brighton, MN and Toms River, NJ. After her husband retired from the Navy, she served as a full-time substitute teacher in the Burnsville School District. She gave 48 years to the teaching profession. As recent as 2019, Dorothy continued to attend reunion gatherings of her former students in Winthrop.

Wherever they lived, Dorothy was also very faithful and active in her church. She frequently was involved as a Sunday School teacher as well as a leader in many women’s activities.

Pride in her family was unsurpassed. Dorothy was preceded in death by her parents, Wilhelm and Elsa Schmalz, as well as her brother Milton Schmalz. Dorothy is survived by her husband of 68 years, Edward as well as her two sons; Eric (Pam) Kruse of Prior Lake, MN and Karl (Heather) Kruse of Apple Valley, MN. She also has three grandchildren: Justin (Ashley) Kruse, Kirsten (Josh) Nalan, and Jaime (Jenn) Kruse. She has four great-grandchildren; Paige and Grant Nalan, as well as twins, Linden and Dorothy Kruse.

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Helen Jacobson says

    August 14, 2022 at 3:42 pm

    My deepest sympathy and prayers are with you and your family at this time. It is with great fondness I remember a very sweet lady.

    Reply
  2. Mary Nierengarten Bjorklund says

    August 16, 2022 at 4:42 pm

    Dorothy (Miss Schmaltz when I knew her) was my 2nd grade teacher in Winthrop in 1947. I remember her so fondly, even after all these years. She called me Mary Jean–and I remember her saying to me that I was “really going to be something”. Amazingly, when I just saw her at a reunion a couple of years ago she walked right up to me and said–” I know you’re a lawyer and I knew you’d turn out to be something”. How could anyone possibly go wrong with a teacher like that? My sympathies to her wonderful family. Your were truly blessed to have her.

    Reply
  3. CAROL L PANOS says

    August 16, 2022 at 4:54 pm

    Dear Kruse Family. I did not have the pleasure of having Dorothy as a teacher in school but each year I do a Class reunion luncheon for the WHS graduated class of 1958. I was so pleased to have had her in attendance for our last class reunion before covid in 2019. The classmates who were lucky enuf to have experienced her presence in their class room have shared so many great comments with me and the comment that stands out amongst all I spoke with was “She was the Best teacher I ever had.” I enjoyed meeting her son Karl and his wife who brought their mom to our 2019 class reunion. Thoughts and prayers go out to the family. Please keep in touch. Sincerely Carol

    Reply
  4. Annette Schuette says

    August 16, 2022 at 5:33 pm

    Miss Schmalz, as I knew her, was not only my favorite elementary teacher, but my favorite and beloved teacher of all my seventeen years of education. She was my second grade teacher at Winthrop schools. One of my fondest memories of her was when she taught us the song, Itsy Bitsy Spider. I sat in the front row and was Mesmerized by her beautiful, long red finger nails climbing up the water spout! I still have the poem she wrote in my little autograph book:Good luck to you in whatever you do. Sincerely, Miss Schmalz. I became a teacher myself many years later, influenced, in part, by her loving ways.

    Reply

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