Joan Kolind Krueger – Surrounded by her family, Joan Krueger passed away peacefully on September 11 at the age of 95. She is survived by her children Linda (David) Boxill, Joel (Melinda), James (Dinah), and John (Ann) Krueger; grandchildren Heather, Justin and Rachel Boxill; Allison (Brodie) Tierney, Andrew (Mary) Krueger, and Jeremiah (Frankie Moore) Krueger; great grandchildren Hayes and Simone Tierney. She was predeceased by her husband, Gordon Elmer August Krueger, and daughter Carol Krueger.
Joan was born on Long Island NY to Toni Walter Larsen and Hans Pedersen. They returned to their native Denmark when Joan was five and lived in Copenhagen with extended family. She endured the Nazi occupation as a teenager and her uncles were honored
for heroism in the Danish resistance, one of whom paid the ultimate price. At the age of eighteen, Joan sailed alone to the US to claim her citizenship. Living with a family on Washington Circle, she worked as a seamstress for Peg Bradley and Bitker Gerner before marrying Gordon and moving to Milwaukee’s east side.
After a lonely childhood, Joan raised a family of five and was a second mother to many others. She made her home the center of the action, hosting every holiday, tolerating all kinds of nonsense and always making a place at the table for one more.
In addition to being a domestic goddess, Joan sewed for interior designer Bert Hansen, volunteered at the Bartlett Avenue school library and taught children to crochet. Later she became an aide in the Head Start program, worked in the MPS main office and ultimately was an unflappable school secretary at Brown Street School, Lincoln Center for the Arts and Hawthorne Elementary. She retired from MPS at 65 but kept the books for Downer Hardware into her 80s.
She was a devoted member of Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church, helping in innumerable ways including cleaning the church each week.
Joan was an avid gardener and lover of the outdoors. She skied, camped, fished and raised birds and three boxers. Art and music were great passions, and she was an enthusiastic supporter of the Milwaukee Art Museum and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. In addition to being an excellent cook and baker, she knit, crocheted, upholstered and sewed for us all.
Please help us celebrate her life on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at Krause Funeral Home, 9000 West Capitol Drive. Visitation will be from 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM., followed by a service from 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM. Libations to follow at Camp Bar Tosa, 6600 West North Avenue, starting at 6:00 PM.
In lieu of flowers, gifts to the Urban Ecology Center https://www.urbanecologycenter.org/
Tove Pedersen Ashurst
left a message on September 17, 2026:
Laurie Krueger (Terry)
left a message on September 17, 2026:
