Marie J Kroeger

Marie J. Kroeger (nee Jasper), 86, passed away peacefully on July 19, 2021. She was born April 1, 1935 in Louisville KY to Claude and H. Elizabeth Jasper. She attended the University of Louisville where she majored in music and vocal performance and met her husband and soulmate Karl Kroeger, also a music student and composer. They married on July 20, 1955 and after traveling to Germany and France settled back in Louisville briefly. There they had one son, Paul, and then proceeded to crisscross the United States for work and school. Marie earned a master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Oregon and worked actively at several institutions during her career, including the North Carolina School of the Arts and Denver University. At the latter she rose to the tenured rank of Associate Professor. They retired to Gurnee, IL to be near their son Paul, his wife Carol Ward and their two grandchildren, Alan and Marie E. Kroeger. Their final move was to Gainesville, FL where Paul and Carol had retired. Marie was happy to leave the snow and ice behind. All throughout her life she was active in public choral groups, singing in the Moramus Chorale (Winston-Salem, NC), North Shore Choral Society (Evanston, IL) and the Gainesville Master Chorale to name but a few. She loved singing and it showed.  In retirement she was a long-time volunteer at the Art Institute of Chicago working behind the scenes in the archives answering art related questions from all over the world – she always had a great story to tell about who she had helped. In Gainesville FL she volunteered at the Matheson History Museum where she was the 2020 volunteer of the year and devoted much of her time to the UF Samuel Proctor Oral History Project transcribing interviews with WWII service men and women, even doing some of the interviews herself.  Marie is survived by her husband of 66 years, Karl, her son Paul and his wife Carol, her two grandchildren, Alan and Marie, Mike Machalinski (husband of Marie), and great granddaughter Brooke Machalinski, as well as many nieces and nephews. She led a quiet and unassuming life and yet had such a profound affect on all of us and those she met. She was curious to the end, witty and ever willing to help.  “Yes, yes…there, there” was often heard.

In her honor, the family asks that you support the causes and organizations below that Marie loved and participated in:

North Shore Choral Society:  https://nscscrm.northshorechoral.us/index.php?Itemid=164

Gainesville Master Chorale:  http://gcchorus.net/be-a-donor-1

Art Institute of Chicago:  https://sales.artic.edu/donate

Matheson History Museum:  https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=8E5FPSJBN3MFL&source=url