Dan Krause
June 17, 1946 – July 17, 2018
this is a test
In 1946, just after the conclusion of the Second World War, Dan Krause was born in Kiel, a port city on Germany's Baltic Sea. Four years later, Dan's Polish father moved his family to Katowice, a city in southern Poland. This is where Dan grew up, loving to play sports, especially soccer and track and field. Dan performed well in many disciplines of track and field, with his favourite events being the decathlon and sprint hurdles. He also played goal keeper for his soccer teams and years later became manager of a< Polish soccer team.
Seeking new direction in his life and motivated by the deep economic and political crisis in Poland, Dan immigrated to Canada in 1989. He worked as a carpenter for about 20 years, and after retiring he looked for something to fill his free time. So in 2013, at age 67, Dan joined the Greyhounds Masters Club. He didn't compete that year but he enjoyed training and was determined to improve his physical conditioning so as to be able to compete the following year.
In 2014, Dan competed in four meets and had immediate success in his first one. At the BC Masters Indoor Championships in Kamloops, Dan won gold medals in the shot put and weight throw, breaking the BC Masters M65 indoor record in the weight throw (12.45m). He also won the silver medal in the high jump. As well, Dan won three medals at the BC Masters Outdoor Championships in Kelowna; silver medals in the hammer and high jump and a bronze medal in the throws pentathlon. He was also entered in the discus and weight throw but did not compete.
Dan seemed to lose his focus and interest in competing and did not enter many events during the next three years. However, he won the silver medal in the discus at the 2015 BC Masters Outdoor Championships. He also won the silver medal in the discus at the Trevor Craven meet along with another silver in the hammer throw. In 2016, Dan won the silver medal in the 60m at the BC Masters Indoor Championships but withdrew from the three other events he had entered. He did not register for any more meets for the rest of the year. In 2017, Dan returned to Poland for a long visit and did not compete in any meets.
Dan was a compassionate and loving father. During the 2014 BC Masters Indoor Championships in Kamloops, one of his daughters was extremely ill. After Dan completed his event on Friday evening, he drove back to Surrey to visit his dying daughter in the hospital. After spending a few hours with her, he returned to Kamloops for his Saturday events. Again, upon completion of those events, he drove back to Surrey to spend another few hours with her. He returned to Kamloops during the night to compete in his Sunday event. Sadly, his daughter passed away a few days later.
Dan always had a big smile on his face; a smile that would make people think he was very happy. However, after a divorce, the loss of a son earlier, and now the death of his daughter in 2014, Dan's big smile was probably hiding a feeling of pensive sadness. We lost Dan far too early due to a heart attack on July 17, 2018.
