Dorothy Rose Kraus

Mrs. Dorothy Rose (Anderson) Kraus, 97, passed away peacefully surrounded by family and the loving staff at Brevillier Village on Sunday, July 28th 2024 where she lived for the past 3 years. She was born on March 28th 1927, on the lower east side of Erie and attended St. Mary’s Elementary School and St. Benedict Academy for Girls. 

She was an only child whose mother Helen (Krajewski) Anderson died when Dorothy was only 11 years old. She was raised by her maternal Grandmother Rose Krajewski and her mother’s extended family. She would proudly tell you that during high school she was bussed after school from St. Benedict Academy to the GE Plant in Lawrence Park where she worked on the Bazooka Assembly Line supporting WWII! 

Dorothy met her husband Dr. John Kraus in the 2nd grade at St. Mary’s Elementary School in Erie and they married in 1951. Jack came from a large family of 10 children and she became integrated into the Kraus family from a young age. After they married, she worked in the accounting department at the Grant Paper Co. in Pittsburgh, Pa. while he attended dental school. Dorothy had a love of math and applied those accounting principles keeping the books for her husband’s dental practice for nearly 45 years. Although Dorothy suffered from dementia for a number of years, she never forgot her multiplication tables and enjoyed being quizzed! 

Dorothy liked cards especially bridge and pinocle, reading, bowling, golf, and tennis. She and Jack enjoyed traveling usually to warm places in the winter. She was a regular at Greengarden Bowling Lanes with the Blessed Sacrament Woman’s League. She enjoyed get-togethers with her life- long St. Ben’s friends and the Winchester Heights neighborhood bridge clubs. A generous and caring individual, she was on the board of directors at SafeNet and supported the Inner-City Neighborhood Art House. She loved to laugh, and spend precious time with her husband, children, and especially her 4 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. 

Daughter of the late Edwin and Helen Anderson, she is survived by her three children: Janet and Jon Sedelmyer, Jack and Diane (Gillingham) Kraus, Greg Kraus and Michael Smith; grandson Christian Sedelmyer and Laura Mae Socks, and granddaughters Katelyn (Sedelmyer) and her husband Andrew Lyons, Laura (Kraus) and her husband Joe Lovenshimer, Danielle Kraus, and great granddaughters Margot Lovenshimer and Josephine Lyons along with many cousins.

The family would like to thank the staff from Barnabas North at Brevillier Village for their excellent care. Additionally, we are forever grateful to Dawn, Dorothy’s personal caretaker who spent several evenings each week for over 3 years providing “Dot” with tender loving care. 

Friends and family may call on Sunday, August 4th from 2:30 to 4:30 at Burton Quinn Scott Cremation & Funeral Services Wintergreen, 2532 Norcross Road. A funeral mass will be held Monday, August 5th at 9 AM at St. George Catholic Church. The mass will be livestreamed at www.youtube.com/c/saintgeorgeromancatholicchurch 

Memorial donations may be made to Brevillier Village on their website: brevillier.org, the Benedictine Sisters of Erie on their website: eriebenedictines.org or to the Alzheimer’s Association at their website: alz.org.