Jean Krahe

Jean J. (Joni) Krahe

January 24, 1926 – August 31, 2014
Jean J. (Joni) Krahe came into the world during a blizzard in Nyanza, Nova Scotia, and left us on a sweltering South Florida summer day, leaving a big hole in our hearts.

During her last days, she stated that she wanted to be remembered as a “hard worker,” and indeed she is remembered as an enthusiastic and active participant in life. She was always ready to go on an exploration or adventure, especially involving nature and her beloved birds. She was always jumping up and asking, “Where are we going?” During her daughter’s Masters Degree field work, she accompanied her and hiked several miles a day on Juno Beach doing sea turtle surveys. She regularly hiked around Green Cay and Wakodahatchee wetland nature preserves, and marveled at the beauty of the Everglades, the desert southwest, and the Smoky Mountains.

She was an avid gardener with a truly green thumb, a butterfly enthusiast, a great birder, and a fan of all things natural. She especially enjoyed sharing her enthusiasm for nature with children, and fondly remembered her work with The Maryland School for Boys. She led a water exercise class at her condominium for many years, becoming suitably tanned and muscular. She was known for her kindness and generosity, organizing and preparing celebrations for her neighbors’ birthdays and holidays. She was an old school letter writer who kept in touch with friends and family with special notes over the years.
She was a brilliant woman, proud of keeping her wits to an advanced age, a great reader who avidly consumed several books a week. She could hold a conversation with almost anyone about virtually anything. Joni was very proud of being a summa cum laude graduate of Radcliffe College, Harvard University, and of her working her way though college. She worked as a English teacher in private high schools in New England prior to her marriage to the late Richard (Dick) Krahe in 1948.

The early years of Joni’s marriage were characterized by the nomadic lifestyle of a Navy wife. Joni and Dick settled down in Pikesville and then lived in Towson, Maryland for many years. She devoted herself to the care of her late husband, with whom she moved to sunny South Florida in 1989 to be near their daughter. After his death, she enjoyed traveling and exploring with her daughter, Holly.

She was predeceased by her father, John. W. Roop, her mother, Dorothy Roop, and her brothers Cyril and John Roop. She is survived by her daughter, Holly, her sister Dorothy-Ann McMahon, and her treasured nieces and nephews: Heidi, Mac, Mark, and Tod McMahon, Elizabeth (Eckart) and John Roop, Leslie and Larry Roop, and Carol Nicoll.

We will celebrate her life by scattering her ashes at two of her favorite locations in nature, as she requested.


Serenity Funeral Home and Cremation has been entrusted with the funeral arrangements.