Founding member of St. Mary Magdalene Church
By Linda McIntosh
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
On his 90th birthday last year, Bob Krause set a record for being the first known American to live 85 years with diabetes. At his celebration luncheon, he didn’t eat anything because of his strict meal regimen.
That kind of discipline characterized his nearly nine decades of successfully coping with diabetes and went hand in hand with his career in engineering which led him to build rockets for the first manned space flights.
Mr. Krause, who received a medal from the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston for his longevity, died of acute leukemia March 5 in San Diego, a few months before his 91st birthday.
He was diagnosed with diabetes at age 5 shortly after insulin became readily available and a year after his brother died of the disease. By age 6 he was injecting himself in the arms and legs, and learned early on to stay on top of his condition long before the current medical advancements.
His family recalled stories about how his mother kept him on a strict diet, weighing each piece of food he ate. He continued that regimen for his entire life, carefully monitoring his diet and blood sugar levels.
“He would often say he did not live to eat, he ate to live,” said his daughter, Anne Bowman. When he visited the doctor, he brought charts of his blood sugars along with reams of self-generated data he used to track his condition. “Mr. Krause was successful in living well with type 1 diabetes for over 85 years due to his unfailing diligence in self care,” said Dr. Patricia Wu, his internist at Kaiser Permanente. “He managed his blood sugar by testing 9-10 times daily, meticulously recording every result and using the results to guide his diet and insulin doses.”
Mr. Krause was born May 27, 1921 in Syracuse, N.Y. to Frank and Helen Krause and grew up in Detroit where his father worked for U.S. Rubber. He earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Detroit and a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Washington in Seattle, serving as engineering professor there from 1947 until 1955, when he joined General Dynamics Convair Division in San Diego. He worked on the Atlas Rocket Program for launching the first Mercury astronauts, such as John Glenn and Alan Shepard during the “space race” years and was also involved in the cruise missile program. “Convair was ramping up a great brain trust of engineers in order to achieve the goal of manned spaceflight, and he was on the forefront of this venture,” Bowman said.
Mr. Krause was a founding member of St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in the 1950s, where he served as Eucharistic minister and lector. Bowman said her father had a deep faith in God. “He said God would allow life to throw people a curve in order to not be complacent and to see the greatness of God,” she said. At age 87 he joined the church choir as a baritone; although he was crippled with arthritis and used a walker, he could sing. “He was always prepared with his book marked and music ready; anyone who knew Bob loved him,” said Mary Kay Evanko, director of music and liturgy at St. Magdalene.
He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Kathleen Krause of Clairemont; daughter Anne Bowman of Bellevue Washington; son Tom Krause of San Diego; brother Jim Krause of Kaneohe, Hawaii; and eight grandchildren.
“Even to his last breath his blood sugar was normal and he was checking two days before he died. So you could say he beat diabetes all the way to the end. His life gave hope to so many,” Bowman said.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. on March 15 at St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, 1945 Illion St. Interment is at Greenwood Cemetery.
The family suggests donations to Dominican Mission Foundation based in San Francisco.
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