Casey Kraft

Casey Kraft, 95 of Sarasota, FL, a longtime resident of The Fountains in Lake Pointe Woods, died September 10, 2018. Services will be held on Monday, September 17, 2018 at 9 am at Robert Toale and Sons Funeral Home at Palms Memorial Park; 170 Honore Ave., Sarasota, FL. Interment will be on Monday at 11:30 am at Sarasota National Cemetery.

Casey was the oldest child of Aldo Charles Kraft and Dorothea Gleason Kraft of Farmington, Minnesota. He spent his early years in Minnesota and Iowa. After graduating from high school in Wellman, Iowa in 1942, Casey joined the Navy. He served aboard the destroyer USS Halsey Powell (DD686), participated in the invasion of Saipan, was aboard when the ship was hit by a “Kamikaze” during the Okinawa Campaign and was in Tokyo Bay for the peace signing ceremonies.

In 1950 Casey graduated from the University of Iowa and went to work for the Federal Government in Washington, D.C. He was employed by the Army, Navy, Weather Bureau and Coast Guard in the D.C. metro area and in New York. After retiring Casey lived in Oregon, California, New Mexico and Florida. He was an avid backpacker, long–distance runner, reunion organizer and his ship’s historian. Casey backpacked in Nepal, New Zealand, the U.S. and Canada.

Survivors include his children, Steven of Jacksonville, IL, Karen, wife of Cesar Vasquez Chavez, of Concepcion, Peru, and Bruce, husband of Yolanda; grandchildren, Michael and Kimberly of Falls Church, VA; brother, Donn of San Antonio, TX; sisters, Joan Godber of Cedar Rapids, IA and Barbara Wood of Cedar Falls, IA. Casey was preceded in death by his brothers, Dean, William and Mark and his sister, Gwen.