Nellie Marie Kruse

Nellie Marie Kruse, age 88, of La Grande, died October 11, 2014 at a care facility in Elgin. A graveside service will be held on Saturday, October 18, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. at the Island City Cemetery. Arrangements are entrusted to Daniels~Knopp Funeral, Cremation & Life Celebration Center.

Nellie was born on October 16, 1925, the daughter of Byron and Emelia Margaret (Menke) Willoughby in Morrowville, Kansas. After high school she earned a teaching certificate and taught in a one room school house in Fairbury, Nebraska for a time. On August 2, 1946 she married Arthur Edward August Kruse in Rupert, Idaho. They moved to La Grande on Christmas Eve 1958. She worked as a waitress, worked in the bakery of the old Safeway and as a clerk in the houseware department of C & E True Value for many years. She was an avid reader and enjoyed quilting, painting, walking and working crossword puzzles.

Survivors include her children and their spouses, Dale and Linda Kruse of La Grande and Debra and Brian Spoelstra of Wallowa; sisters, Sadie Boulton of Forest Grove, Illinois and Elsie Maples of Bonifay, Florida; six grandchildren; many great and great great grandchildren and other relatives and friends. She was preceded in death by an infant son, Allen Kruse, grandson, Jacob Kruse in 1977, husband, Arthur in 1988 and son, Edward Kruse in 2002. Also preceding her in death were siblings, Harry Willoughby, Lois Larkins and Wilma DeLorm.

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