William Krause

Longtime former Peabody publisher William V. “Bill” Krause died Dec. 6, 2011, in Peabody. He was 88 years of age. He had been in failing health for several years.

Funeral services were held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Peabody United Methodist Church. Interment was in the Chester, Neb., cemetery.

He was married to Shirley B. Huckins of Chester, Neb., on Aug. 11, 1946.

Krause was a longtime Kansas newspaperman. He worked as an apprentice and printer in the Belleville Telescope for three years during the 1940s. After serving in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II, he attended Kansas State University, earning a degree in journalism in 1949. He worked for the Council Grove Daily Republican for about three years, then he and his wife purchased the Konawa, Okla., Leader in 1952. Later he worked for the King Newspapers in Sutton, Neb., before purchasing the Peabody Gazette-Herald in 1954. During the 43 years in which he and his wife, Shirley, operated the Peabody paper, he also took over the Florence Bulletin, the Burns News, the Douglass Tribune, the Wichita Journal, and the Daily Record and for a time operated all six publications. The Krauses also owned a share of the Yates Center News and the Toronto Republican. Later consolidations and sales reduced the newspapers to the Peabody Gazette-Bulletin, a consolidation of the Peabody, Florence, and Burns newspapers. Failing health caused him to sell that newspaper in 1997.

Since selling the Gazette-Bulletin, he had been in charge of building the Peabody Printing Museum, and until his health failed, he supervised the volunteers who roamed the state picking up old presses and other items which make the Museum the finest in the area.

During World War II, he served with the 95th Infantry Division and earned several battle stars fighting in France, Germany, Belgium, and Holland. He served as a mortar gunner.

Survivors include his wife, Shirley; two daughters, Koni Jones of Wichita and Denise Krause of Jackson, Miss.; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren; one brother, Gayle Krause, and his wife, Kaye, of El Dorado; and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. William J. Krause of Belleville; and an older brother, Dr. Charles Krause of Edmonds, Wash.

He was active in politics much of his life and was the Republican candidate for Congress from the Fourth District in 1984. He was defeated by Dan Glickman in the general election. He was active in Peabody affairs and served several years as a member and president of the Peabody and Peabody-Burns boards of education, served several years on Peabody City Council, as president of the Peabody Chamber of Commerce, and as president of Peabody Kiwanis Club. He was a member of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars and of Peabody Methodist Church.

He served several terms as a director of the Kansas Press Association and served as president of that group in 1974.

He was considered to be one of the best column writers in Kansas and won several awards in newspaper contests through the years. Although he was skilled and active in all phases of producing weekly newspapers, he enjoyed the writing most of all.