Kaye Romelle Krall, 75, of International Falls, Minn., passed unexpectedly Thursday, April 26, 2018, at Rainy Lake Medical Center, International Falls.
In what would become an amazing gift to everyone, Kaye Kalar, was born Nov. 2, 1942, to Albert and Elnora Kalar in International Falls.
She grew up and lived her whole incredible life in International Falls and graduated from Falls High School in 1961.
On June 9, 1962, Kaye married the love of her life, Joe Krall, whom adored her.
Their incredible relationship, commitment and unconditional love for each other was to be admired. In those 55-plus years of marriage, Kaye and Joe brought into this world two sons and one daughter.
Kaye was a traditional, proud, super, life-long home-maker.
As matriarch, she was the glue that held the family together. Her goal in life was to make sure her kids were provided for and shown amazing love and support throughout their lives. Kaye and Joe lived their lives for their children and made sure they came first. She was totally committed to her children and would back them in all circumstances and provide guidance to them to help better themselves.
She was the CEO, the judge, the principal, the counselor, the sheriff, the accountant, the teacher, the chef, the janitor and the nurse of the family... to summarize, she was in charge! She carried on that love and support for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Everyone wanted to go to Mom and Dad Krall’s house. Their house was the place to be! All holiday gatherings took place at the Krall household and Kaye was the life-long cook for those holiday meals and learned her cooking skills from her mother, Elnora.
She doted on her two brothers, Adrian and Terry, and had a special, loving relationship with her younger sister, Shelley.
In the early years of the marriage, Kaye was involved in ceramics, sewing, plants and other hobbies but her primary focus and desire, was raising her children which in turn didn’t allow her to venture into the outside work force.
She felt her place of employment was at home and her kids and husband, absolutely loved that. She was always home for her kids arriving from school. She always had the family meals prepared at the same time each day. She had the routine down pat, and wanted and insisted on, that structure for the family.
She loved to play cards with family friends and relatives, which provided many many laughs.
She loved her dogs and treated them as she would her own children. She would prepare special meals for her dogs daily to meet their specific needs.
The camping trips were numerous throughout each summer. Itasca State Park, George Washington State Park, Caliper Lake in Canada and Birchdale were the family favorites.
Joe tried many times to get her in the boat out on the lake but was unsuccessful. Her near-drowning experience as a youngster tainted her desire to get out on the water the rest of her life.
The one time Joe was able to convince her to go for a short boat ride, when they reached land, Kaye jumped out of the boat and got on her hands and knees and kissed the ground.
She had a passion for the Minnesota sports teams but absolutely loved the Vikings. The text messages would be flying to her children while watching the Vikings games as she thought she was the head coach and always questioned the play-calling, the quarterback decision making... “why does he never throw downfield?”, the kicker, the punter, the “why does the running back run up the middle every time?”, the “why are the refs always against us”, etc., etc.
She always thought the Wild “never had a good goalie,” and “we never have goal scorers on this team,” and “our team is never physical enough, we get pushed around every game” stuff. When she would call to discuss the games in real time, dad could be heard yelling at the refs in the background.
While mom was venting her frustrating about how the Vikings “will never win a Super Bowl,” dad could be heard yelling that the refs are against us, in the background, and then you would hear a door slam... dad got mad at the game and went outside.
But, mom would always tune in the following week to watch the next game. She was as loyal a Vikings fan as you could find.
She had such wonderful relationships with her children, each in different ways and loved and treated them equally.
In the later years, she could always count on oldest son Brian to be there to fix things. Youngest son Jeff was there to keep the family laughing and daughter Lisa... wow, what an amazing, loving mother-daughter relationship they had. Two peas in a pod. Their shopping trips were too many to count (actually they became exhausting to everyone else, to be honest). The bond they had was unbreakable. If you ran in to Kaye in town, more than likely Lisa was with her. Mom and Lisa made numerous trips weekly in the later years to the Littlefork nursing home together to check on dad.
Her grandchildren meant so much to her. We used to joke that mom basically raised her own children and all of her grandchildren. Family was her love and joy.
She loved the holidays and took pride in her Christmas decorating. She always made sure there were tons of presents under the tree each year even if it meant sacrificing things for herself. She looked forward to the decorating (which dad had to patiently work with her) adjusting things over and over until it was “just right.”
The “old” Christmas trees piled up in the basement over the years and it looked like a forest in and of itself. The “life expectancy” of every one of her artificial trees suspiciously only lasted two years, tops.
She never missed one of the kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, birthdays or anniversaries. She made sure she made time for all of her kids and grandkids events every year.
The love she showed for all of her grandchildren throughout their lives was evident by how they continued to call her and check up on her until the end.
Basically, she was the best wife, mother, sister, aunt, grandmother and great-grandmother in the world!
Kaye was preceded in death by her parents, Albert and Elnora Kalar; father- and mother-in-law, Joe Sr. and Irene Krall; and her brother, Dr. Terry Kalar.
She is survived by her loving husband, Joe of International Falls; sons, Brian of International Falls and Jeff of Plymouth, Minn.; daughter, Lisa (Mark) Johnson of International Falls; six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren; nieces and nephews; brother, Adrian Kalar of Edmonds, Wash.; and sister, Shelley Marie of Red Deer, Alberta, Canada.
Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Monday, May 7, at Zion Lutheran Church, International Falls.
Condolences may be left at www.greenlarsen.com.
Arrangements are with Green-Larsen Mortuary Inc., International Falls.
