Just more than one year after he passed away, the generosity of Chet Krause lives on and will continue to do so for some time.

Founded in 1987, the Krause Foundation can afford to give roughly $100,000 a year to numerous groups in and around Iola with the goal of improving the quality of life for everyone.

The foundation has recently supported local daycares, provided funds for training for the fire department, helped repair a school sign, donated to a school locker room project, donated to upgrade the baseball field, given to the American Legion, as well as provide $9,000 annually in scholarships.

"We think we are doing things the way he would want them to be done and support things in the way he would want them to be supported," said Pat Klug, Krause's niece and board member of the Krause Foundation.

The foundation board consists of Klug, Bruce Meagher, Mark Sether, Dale Bestul and Heather Hoyord.

The group had roughly five years in which Krause was heavily involved before he turned the operations and decisions over to the members.

It was his upbringing as one of six children and then as a World War II veteran that formed the man many remember. After the war, he went home and took care of his father, who was ill at the time, and later he took care of his aunts, Klug said.

"He had a family responsibility and it extended then, it became part of his personality to take care of things," she said.

It just so happened that after his business success, Krause ended up taking care of an entire town.

"Almost any part in Iola, when you walk out the door, you will be able to view something he contributed to to make Iola a better place," said Clifford Mishler, Krause's long-time associate and best friend.

Krause was a self-made man and founded Krause Publications, which was based in Iola and became an empire for hobbyist magazines.

"We were in essence a small metropolitan daily newspaper and when I say we were small, we probably had presses running more than the Milwaukee Journal," Mishler said.

"Chet was the kind who would give money for anything that was worthy, and he didn't even necessarily want his name on anything. He just wanted to help them out," said Dave Lindsay, a decade's long friend.

Lindsay knew Krause since they were half-grown youth, back when they both attended elementary school in Manawa.

"The biggest bulk of the time, he never got any credit and he didn't want any," Lindsay said. "He was just a very generous man and a gentleman who liked humanity."

Krause also kept a down-home attitude. His office during retirement served as a gathering place for people to shoot the breeze and catch up on happenings.

"I usually got there in time for the coffee and the donuts, and there was usually a crowd of Iola people sitting in there, and they just visited," Lindsay said. "He was one of the boys."

Even though he was "Just Plain Chet," as a book about him was titled, his legacy will live on due to the Krause Foundation.

To read the complete article, see:
Foundation maintains one man's generosity(http://www.waupacanow.com/2017/07/18/krauses-legacy-endures/#_)

To read the an earlier E-Sylum article, see:
IOLA REMEMBERS CHET KRAUSE(http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n28a19.html)