KRAFFT, Leon 1918-1993

KRAFFT, WAHL, STRAIGHT

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 8/3/2012 at 14:22:37

Leon Krafft, 74, of Amherst, Massachusetts, died on December 7, 1992 at the Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, Mass.

Born April 6, 1918, in Payton, Iowa, he was the son of the late Rev. John and Lydia (Wahl) Krafft.

He was a 1935 graduate of Nora Springs High School in Iowa, and a 1939 graduate of the University of Northern Iowa.

While in college, he founded the Lon Krafft Orchestra, which traveled the big-band circuit in the Midwest from 1936 to 1939.

Mr. Krafft was a high school instrument, band, and concert teacher in Rudd, Nashua, and Estherville, all in Iowa.

He founded the Krafft Music Company in 1948 in Spencer and Estherville, Iowa. He sold the company in 1972, and moved to New Port Rickey, Florida.

While in Florida he was a property appraiser for the Clearwater Federal Savings and Loan, retiring in 1986, when he moved to Amherst.

He promoted ballroom dancing in this area.

He was a member of the Phi Mu Alpha Music fraternity while in college and was a member of the American Musicians Union.

He was a member of the Symphonian and the Northampton Lodge of Elks Lodge 997.

He was a past member of the First Presbyterian Church in Estherville.

He leaves his wife of 53 years, Ruth (Straight) Krafft; a son, the Rev. Donald W. Krafft of Florida; two daughters, Janet Heller of Amherst and Diane L. Rhodes of California; eight grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.

A son, James M. Krafft, died in 1981.

[Nora Springs Advertiser - 23 JUN 1993]