Kraai, Myra (Mrs. W. Dale) 1921-2002

KRAAI, VANDERSCHAAF, HYMANS

Posted By: Paul Van Dyke-Volunteer
Date: 3/5/2015 at 22:50:39

Source: Sioux Center News (1-23-2002)

Born: June 23, 1921
Died: January 17, 2002

Myra Frye Kraai, 80, of Hull died Thursday, January 17, 2002, at Hegg Memorial Health Center in Rock Valley, Iowa. Memorial services will be 11 A.M. Monday at American Reformed Church in Hull, with the Reverend Steven Bierly officiating. Burial will be prior to the service Monday in Hope Cemetery. There will be a family prayer service at 10 A.M. Monday at Oolman Funeral Home in Hull. Visitation will be after 3 P.M. Sunday, with the family present 3 to 5 P.M., at the funeral home.

Myra Marian was born June 23, 1921, in Hull, the daughter of Henry and Rose (Vander Schaaf) Hymans. She was raised and lived in Hull until 1939, when she went to Central College in Pella, Iowa. She later attended the University of Iowa in Iowa City, where she received her degree in speech pathology and psychology. She did her graduate work at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and received her master’s degree from Long Beach State University in California.

Most of Myra’s professional work was in the area of special education. She taught in the classroom and then was employed in the Iowa Department of Education in Des Moines, where she established educational programs for the physically impaired. She also was a speech therapist in the Des Moines Public Schools.

She and her family later moved to California, where she worked as a resource specialist. During this time, she wrote and had published the “Powerline Reading Program,” specially designed to help children develop their auditory and visual perception skills. After 53 years of working with children, she retired just before her 75th birthday.

On September 4, 1999, she married W. Dale Kraai at the American Reformed Church in Hull where they were both members. They made their home in Hull as well as Hendersonville, North Carolina.

Survivors include her husband,; two daughters and their husbands, Chelsea M. “Mary” and Tom Wakefield of Hendersonville, and Drs. Ruth A. and Arnie Harper of Austin, Texas; three grandchildren, Tommy Wakefield and Holly and Beau Harper; two stepchildren and their spouses, Rachael A. and James Ter Beest of Omaha and Paul A. and Arlis Kraai of Hull; four step grandchildren, Laura and her husband, Ezra Strubbe, Nathan Ter Beest and David and Pamela Kraai; a great-step-granddaughter, Victoria Strubbe; two sisters, Claryce Gorzeman of Hull, and Virginia and her husband, Wayne Clymer of Wayzata, Minnesota; and a sister-in-law, Lola Hymans of Des Moines.

In addition to her parents, she preceded in death by two sisters, Delia Meylink and Doris Kraai; a brother, Harold Hymans; and three brothers-in-law, Willis Meylink, Leonard Gorzeman and Wilko Schoenbohm.