CRAFT, Margaret B. 1894-1999

VON GRAPPENDORF, BRANDHORST, CRAFT, NORTON

Posted By: IAGenWeb Volunteer
Date: 8/28/2010 at 11:46:30

Decorah Journal, Thursday, January 7, 1999

Margaret Craft

Margaret Brandhorst Craft, 104, of rural Decorah, died Sunday, Jan. 3, 1999, at the Barthell Eastern Star Home in Decorah of natural causes.

A memorial service will be held Friday, Jan. 8, at 11 a.m., at Zion Lutheran Church in Hudson. The Van Hove-Schoof Funeral Home of Cedar Falls is handling arrangements.

Margaret B. Craft was born Sept. 15, 1894, in rural Black Hawk County, the daughter of August and Anna (von Grappendorf) Brandhorst. She was baptized Nov. 18, 1894, and confirmed April 4, 1909, at Zion Lutheran Church, Hudson.

She attended Iowa State Teachers College for two years and then taught in Black Hawk County public schools for 15 years — one year at Zaneta, nine years at Black Hawk No. 7, and five years at Jubilee Consolidated.

She married Vaughn L. Craft of La Porte City June 9, 1928, at Zion Lutheran Church. They farmed together, raising purebred Duroc hogs, near Hudson for over 50 years. They retired to rural Bluffton in Winneshiek County in 1981.

Vaughn Craft died in 1983.

Margaret was a lifelong member of Zion Lutheran Church, the church of her parents. She was active in Hudson community clubs and the township Farm Bureau women's organization.

She was a 4-H leader for seven years. She participated in church activities, including playing the organ-arid translating the church's historical records, originally recorded in German.

Survivors include a daughter, Marianne Craft Norton of Decorah; a son, Rolf V. Craft of Waverly; and five grandchildren, Kurt Craft Norton of San Diego, Calif., Helen L. Norton of Washington D.C., Rolf C. Norton of Seattle, Wash., Erik D. Craft of Richmond, Va., and Andrew D. Craft of San Francisco, Calif.

Margaret B. Craft was preceded in death by her husband and an infant son.

Transcribed by an IA GenWeb Volunteer from obituaries found in the Howard-Winneshiek Genealogy Society Library, Cresco, Iowa