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Robert Peter Kraujalis was
born on June 7, 1930. Bob’s early years were spent in Chicago, where
he graduated from Saint Rita High School. Later, while attending
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he received a congressional
appointment to the U.S. Military Academy from Representative Neal J.
Linehan of the 3rd Congressional District of Illinois.
Bob joined the Class of 1954 in June 1950 and became
a member of Cadet Company C-1. Fortunately, academics were never a
real challenge, and Bob was able to remain in most upper sections
with plenty of time available to spend on other cadet activities,
among them were Lacrosse (Numerals and Monogram), the Dialectic
Society, the Ski Club and four years in the Catholic Chapel Choir
and Glee Club. While the Hell Cats were a mixed blessing for all
cadets each morning, Bob’s roommates experienced an additional “eye
opener”—his rendition of Chicago as a reminder of his Windy City
origin, occasionally supplemented with the Official West Point
March.
On graduation, he was commissioned in the Corps of
Engineers. Initial tours took him to Korea and Japan and later to
the Engineer School at Fort Belvoir, VA. He resigned in 1957 as a
first lieutenant and went to work, initially with IBM. The balance
of Bob’s many working years spent in the petroleum industry were the
final 20 - plus years with the Metal Lubricants Company - initially
in marketing and later as a division manager.
Bob married Nancy Ann Kraft on October 3, 1964 in
Lombard, IL. They had one child, Stephen, who was born on May 5,
1965 in Boston, MA. Tragically, Stephen died in 1986, and Bob’s
wife, Nancy, died the following year. He spent the last years of his
life living with his brother, Richard, in Las Vegas, where he passed
away due to an acute cardio pulmonary arrest.
Bob’s life journey went full circle - born and raised
in Chicago, university education on our Eastern shores, service in
the Far East, working throughout the United States, and interment
back in the Windy City. He will be missed. “Be Thou at Peace.”
— Dave Thoreson, Classmate, and Family |
