Anne Marie Krause

Anne Marie Krause was born July 15, 1926 to Anna and Steve Siska in Lyndhurst, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. She was the middle of three daughters - Margaret the older and Rosalia the younger, who all attended St. Benedict Church and nearby Notre Dame Academy.

The Siska family moved from Ohio to California in the 1940s, first settling in the Westchester area, then moving to Montebello and finally ending up in Whittier. Her parents built a five-unit apartment building on Beverly Blvd., where both Anne and Margaret lived at one time or another.

Back when the Siskas were all living in the Montebello area, Anne met Joseph Krause. They were married on Valentine's Day in 1954 at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church in Montebello and eventually built a house in Whittier. They adopted a boy, Christopher, in 1962 and in 1979, husband Joe died suddenly in a traffic accident.

Since that time, Anne had been fiercely independent, living alone in the house they built for 43 years. She had been a stay-at-home mother, but after Joe's death, she worked for a few years at his shop and then at Rio Hondo College, volunteered at Presbyterian Hospital and was a peer counselor through the senior center. She loved playing the radio - always on the country music station - and had quite a collection of polka records.

Anne survived breast cancer, two leg fractures and had knee-replacement surgery, but it wasn't until after a fall in her last few years that she required in-home assistance. Last December 28 she entered home-hospice care as her health quickly began to decline. She died on January 6, 2023 at 5:51 p.m.

She is survived by son, Chris Krause and his wife Gaile; niece Marguerite Martins living in Whittier; and nephew Edward "Cass" Castleton living in France.