Obituary of Diane Linda Kraus

To view the livestream of the service, please CLICK HERE

Peacefully, as the sun set, surrounded by her loving and grateful family, on October 3, 2024.

Diane was the loving matriarch of our family and the bonds she fostered will give us joy, strength, and resilience through generations to come. She is survived by her sons Daniel (Ann) and Steven (Claudia). She was a loving and dedicated grandmother to Skylar, Logan, Henry, and Sasha and sister to Jeff (Sue) and Tom (Heather). She’ll forever be Auntie Diane to Alex, Scott, Michael, Sean and her many grandnieces and nephews. Predeceased by her husband Henry Kraus and her parents Molly and Clarence.

Diane was born on May 2, 1943, in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. She was a prairie girl at heart, and we’ll forever treasure her stories of prairie crocuses, gophers, buffalo patties, burning grasslands, and the dread of plucking ducks when her father and grandfather returned from hunting. When Diane turned 12, the family moved east to Ontario and settled in Oakville. She attended McMaster University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. While at university she met Henry Kraus, and they married in 1965. After living in Gimli, Manitoba, and Kitchener, they settled in Petersburg in 1971. Diane was busy during those years as a homemaker, Scout leader, member of the local parks board, primary school teacher, support worker for children with disabilities, and keeping her sons on the right track. A few years after Hank’s tragic death in 1987 she moved back to Kitchener, where her home became a hub of friends, families, flowers, and pets for over 30 years. 

From trips to the arctic and tropics with her family, to tours of the world with her friends, Diane remained an avid traveler into her later years. She was an insatiable reader, a perennial theater patron, the family historian, and a master Scrabble player. She made friends easily and kept them for life, from the Oakville Pine Grove gang, through her years in Petersburg, to her weekly Williams coffee klatsch. She devoted countless hours caring for her mother Molly and her mother-in-law Anna through their final years. Diane always ensured that all her family and friends felt loved and connected.

A celebration of her life will be held at Erb & Good Family Funeral Home, 171 King St. S, Waterloo, on Thursday, October 10, 2024. Visitation will begin at 3:00 p.m. followed by a service led by family and friends at 5:00 p.m. in the chapel of the funeral home. A reception with food, drinks, tears and laughter will begin at 6:00 p.m. in the funeral home’s Fireside Reception Room. A private family interment will be held at St. Peter's Lutheran Cemetery at a later date.

A livestream and recording of the service will be made available on Diane’s tribute page at www.erbgood.com.

In lieu of flowers, condolences for the family and donations to World Vision or Nature Conservancy of Canada (Saskatchewan Region) may be arranged through the funeral home at 519-745-8445 or through www.erbgood.com.