Kay L. Kraai

     Kay L. Kraai, age 83 of Sioux Center, IA passed away on Wednesday, January 1, 2025 at the Friendly Horizons Memory Care in Sioux Center. 

Due to the distance to Sioux Center for all the kids, we have decided to wait for more predictable weather.

     A Memorial Service will be held at 11AM on Saturday, June 7, 2025 at the Central Reformed Church in Sioux Center, IA. Visitation will also be at the Central Reformed Church from 5-7 PM on Friday, June 6, 2025.

     Kay Lyn Wiegand was born on January 24, 1941 in a birthing house in Laurens, IA to Wilbur and Amy Wiegand.  She was educated in the Storm Lake, IA school system and graduated from Storm Lake High School in 1959. She went on to graduate from Iowa State University in 1963 with a degree in Home Economics.  Kay then took a job with the Illinois Power and Light Company in Champaign, Illinois for a year and enjoyed conducting cooking seminars and small appliance training.  She had met her future husband while attending Iowa State and it was when she was in Illinois that he proposed and she luckily did accept the proposal and then returned to Ames, IA and took a job with the Iowa Department of Transportation.  Kay married Robert (Bob) Kraai on March 8, 1964 at the Methodist church in Storm Lake.  She continued to work for the Iowa D.O.T. and helped her husband complete his studies at Iowa State.  On May 25, 1966 her husband graduated as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, and the two, along with a newborn baby moved to Sioux Center, IA., where her husband took a job as a full-time veterinarian.  Kay eventually took a job as a teachers aid at Kinsey Elementary School in Sioux Center for several years.  They remained in Sioux Center until 1977 at which time the two of them, now along with a fifth grader, a fourth grader, and identical twin daughters in the first grade, moved to start an entirely new venture as farmers and ranchers in SW Montana.  They had a large log home built and lived in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains in Southwest Montana.  Her husband did most of the farming and ranching and Kay once again became a full-time Librarian and study hall supervisor at the Twin Bridges High School in Twin Bridges, MT. After raising their four kids and very much enjoying Montana, they decided in 1992 that both of their parents needed help and decided to move back to Sioux Center.  For the next several years Kay enjoyed volunteering at Vi Bella, Kinsey Elementary or whoever else needed a little help, Kay was always willing.  Sometime around 2015-2016, her husband started to notice signs of Dementia.  It continued to worsen over the years and eventually, it was impossible for her to be at home anymore.   It was then at a routine doctor's appointment it was discovered that Kay had leukemia as well as the Alzheimers diagnosis.  Fortunately, there was an opening at Friendly Horizons Memory Care in Sioux Center and she was admitted on December 16, 2024, her leukemia progressed and she lived there until her death on January 1, 2025, reaching the age of 83 years, eleven months and seven days.

     Kay was known for her cooking and sewing abilities, her love of making beautiful cards, her love of kids, her beautiful smile and her willingness to help anyone. When the two Billings, MT grandkids were very young and their Dad, Derreck Skinner was deployed overseas, once to Iraq and once to Afghanistan, Kay would drive to Billings herself and babysit her two grandkids for a month at a time so their Mom, Jody, could continue to work, drive home for a month and back and forth for a year at a time, two different years.

     Kay is Survived by her husband of nearly 61 years, Dr. Bob Kraai; brother Jon (Jan) Wiegand of Green Bay, WI; 2 sons, Scott Kraai of Grahm, WA and JT (Laurie) Kraai of St. George, UT, identical twin daughters Jody (Derrek) Skinner of Billings, MT and Jamy Kraai of Sherridan, MT; five grandkids Caleb Kraai, Rebekka Kraai, Seth Kraai, all from the Grahm, WA area, as well as MyKenzie (Eli Bennet) Skinner of Twisp, WA, and Dysen Skinner of Macon, GA.

     Preceding Kay in death were her parents Wilbur and Amy Wiegand and Bob's parents Russ and Wilma Kraai.

Kay would want to thank all her friends for their kindness over the years and particularly to the friendship of the special couples in our Saturday night crew!!

Blessed be the memory of Kay Lyn Kraai.