Vera Kramke

Vera Mae Kramke, 98, of Rockford, passed away Wednesday, October 7, 2020, in her home at Crimson Pointe Senior Living. Born September 7, 1922, in Dundee, Illinois. Vera was the youngest daughter of William C. and Katherine (Wendt) Lorenz. She was a child of the Great Depression. To help during those tough times, Vera and her siblings peddled their Mother’s bakery goods throughout their Dundee neighborhood. When she was a young, single woman, Vera worked at Haegar Potteries and the Elgin Watch factory, both landmark manufacturing businesses in the Dundee/Elgin area. Decades before cellphones and navigation systems, she took road trips with her girlfriends to both Colorado and Washington, D.C. Vera met her husband, Elmer H. Kramke, on a blind date. They married on February 13, 1954, in the First United Methodist Church in Dundee, Illinois. As newlyweds, Elmer and Vera bought an old, one-room schoolhouse in rural Elgin and converted it into a family home. They started raising their four children there, but later moved to a more suburban location. Vera was widowed in 1972 at the age of 50. She returned to the workforce and never re-married. She retired from Elgin Business Forms in 1987. Vera loved gardening, eating toast, and playing Bingo. She hated housework and budgets. She enjoyed ringing in the New Year with a nicely cooked lambchop. Survivors include her children, Kathleen (Robert) Fredrick, Sandra (John Fox) Kramke, Keith (Jackie Porter-Kramke) Kramke, and Carol (Edward) Switzer; grandchildren, Christopher (Danielle Morris) Field, Kevin (Beth) Field, Amanda (Josh) Hoffland, Alyssa (Jake) Lipinski, and Andrea (Brady) Bailey; great-grandchildren, Lilly, Bennett, Berkley, Madison, Tucker, EJ, and Baby Field #2. Predeceased by both parents; husband; and all her siblings. Special thanks to the staff at Crimson Pointe Senior Living and Heartland Hospice, especially Theresa and Natalie, respectively.

Private services will be held with burial in Bluff City Cemetery, Elgin. A celebration of life will be at a later date. Arrangements by Delehanty Funeral Home, Ltd., 401 River Lane, Loves Park.