Grace Ann Kreuser

Grace was the fourth child of five. Sisters Florence, Virginia, Geraldine, who lives in Oconomowoc, WI, and one boy, who died after birth. Grace was more athletically inclined and spent a lot of time with her father helping him work around the house with his tools. She lived at 3334 South Indiana Avenue, Milwaukee and went to Sacred Heart Catholic School for the first 8 years. She enjoyed school, graduating with highest honors in her class.Grace went onto St. Mary’s Academy High School and there she was awarded the science award at graduation which propelled her to continue her education. She attended Marquette University with a science major for three years. Grace found advanced math very difficult, so rather than fail, she left the University and went to work as a stenographer. On April 19, 1952,

she married Ralph Kreuser, who was also of the same Catholic faith. After five years, Ralph and Grace adopted William followed by Janet Marie two years later. The children attended Margaret Mary Catholic School. As a family, they enjoyed boating and would trailer a boat to the Mississippi River, which the family boated extensively. William went on to Marquette University when Janet was in high school. "Ralph worked for the Police Department for 16 years and built our first brick house before we married. Within a year we sold it and the profits became the down payment for the second house, which he also built with brick on the house. Ralph learned to do brick at night school plus the advice of workers on other houses nearby. Within three years, he had built three houses. Then came our adopted children. Our next move was to a three-family building, which produced income from the other two apartments. We bought a house and a lot down the street, selling it later and the buyer moved it to Cedar Bay, WI, which cleared the land for Ralph to build a four-family building in addition to another house for our family. This was all in the area of the Margaret Mary Catholic Church/school. Ralph also bought land close by and built 16 family townhouses where we also lived. After 16 years, Ralph left the Police Department to begin his own mom and pop construction company because he was making more money from his rentals than with the police department. All 16 family townhouses were rented, so we bought another parcel with a house. After selling the house, Ralph built 19 townhouses for rental and a house on an adjacent lot for our use. After selling the house, we bought land on Lac LaBelle in Wisconsin, to build a new house, which we sold in 1974 to move to Cape Coral, Florida.” A Michigan style home was built on a direct gulf access canal and they got their first of many sailboats. Ralph was Commodore of the Sailing Club in Cape Coral. The Club took short overnight sails and then the club members would have breakfast. Ralph found a 38 foot sailboat with a certain keel in CT that had two bedrooms and two bathrooms. They rented a car, loaded it with all their sailing gear, drove it to Connecticut, boarded the sailboat and sailed the sailboat for over 90 days through the intercoastal waterways from Connecticut all the way down to their home in FL. Soon they were sailing up and down the Gulf coast, to the Keys, the Florida Panhandle, the Bahamas, Mexico and Cuba. In order to sail to Cuba, they had to get a clearance with the State Department. Permission was granted to sail to Cuba with two guests also on their sailboat. It was an overnight sail and it was a heavy wind on the nose all through the night. They were escorted by the Cuban military into a dock at the military’s harbor. There the military boarded the sailboat with a dog and inspected it thoroughly for contraband. They had to stay on the boat; however, a can of beer enticed the military to allow us to get off the sailboat and explore Cuba. They stayed overnight hoping the weather would calm down and then moved to the Havana main port and got a slip. A guard walked back and forth all night guarding them in the slip. “In the morning, we took a tour of the city and other places. The buildings were drab, very worn and in need of paint. We toured a cigar factory where women were rolling cigars. A Cuban lady came up to us asking for bar soap, because soap was rationed. We stayed in Havana, Cuba for five days, celebrated our anniversary and spent our American money. We offered our remaining coins to a young Cuban boy, who refused the money saying to us, “Castro takes care of me.” Once their sailing days were over, their beautiful diesel sailboat was sold and the buyer asked Grace to help sail it to Texas, which offer she refused. Grace continued her travels to Medjugorje in Croatia; France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Ireland and Mexico. She also cruised to Alaska. In 2012 when 85 years old, Grace went on a 90-day cruise with another lady from her church cruising all around South America and disembarking in Los Angeles, CA. Grace and her friend were called the “Golden Girls” on the cruise. They went ashore every couple of days to sightsee many very old and crowded cities.

Grace is survived by a son William, grandson Justin Kreuser, and granddaughter Kelly Kormandel (Ziggy), her sister Geraldine, and two great granddaughters, Mia and Mazzy. She was predeceased by her husband, Ralph, in 2001 and her daughter Janet Marie in 1985.

A 10:30am memorial service to honor Grace’s memory will be held July 2nd at St. Andrews Catholic Church in Cape Coral, Florida. Grace will then be interred with her husband Ralph at Coral Ridge Cemetery in Cape Coral.

Memorial contributions may be sent to St. Andrew Catholic School, 1509 SE 27th Street, Cape Coral, FL 33904