Dear Editor:
This past weekend, I attended the Memorial Service and Celebration of Life for my late brother, Michael Baker Kraft, at the Foundry Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. It was glorious send off for a very special man.
My oldest brother led an extraordinary life spanning over 50 years in Washington circles, filled with professional accomplishments, athletic milestones, significant awards in categories too numerous to list, and yet, it was his modesty and humbleness that was most remembered by those who attended his “last hurrah.” In the end, some people are ultimately judged by their material possessions or the titles to which they had been known throughout their lives.
My brother was remembered for what he gave back, what he offered, what he extended to those less fortunate, the hungry, the poor, those who did not have much hope: Mike was their advocate, not just with donations and lip service. He frequently would spend time driving a food truck or serving meals at a soup kitchen to those less privileged.
Beyond this, he always had time and a good heart for friends or a friend of a friend to counsel or advise about life in D.C. or life in general. He mentored hundreds. He opened his home to friends and family almost continually. My brothers, cousins and friends of Mike’s have all stayed with him. I lived with Mike for four months in 1969 when I went through U.S. Navy Diving training at the Washington Naval Yards on the Anacostia River.
But perhaps, most of all that was felt by those of us who gathered to honor Mike was his pure excitement and life-long passion for all things “Indiana!” He was first and foremost a very proud Hoosier! Our parents, the late Dr. Haldon Charles Kraft and Mary Baker Kraft were both Fourth Generation Hamilton County Hoosiers. This conveniently made my brother Mike and my two other brothers, Jake and Tim, and me Fifth Generation Hamilton County Hoosiers. I dare say, very few readers of the Hamilton County Reporter are Fifth Generation Hoosiers. Appropriately, at the end of the service, as we were about to slowly walk from the church, “Back Home Again in Indiana” was played. There was not a dry eye among us.
Mike loved Noblesville, returning here as frequently as he could, especially in the ’60s, 70s and early ’80s before we lost our parents. He purchased several downtown buildings and renovated them and helped revitalize Noblesville in the 1970s. So, his legacy lives on.
From 1944 until 1986, my family lived at Onabend Farm, just two miles south of Noblesville. That is where we grew up and it was an oasis for Mike when he and his wife, Betsy, and daughter, Kate, would find some time to leave D.C. for a “Midwestern fix.” Betsy had grown up in Crawfordsville and also had deep Midwestern roots. Coming home to Noblesville and Onabend was a magic elixir for Mike and served to re-charge his batteries before he returned to D.C. to “go forth and do good.” That, by the way, was his life-long salutation to everyone upon departing.
I want to thank the Reporter for publishing Mike’s obituary. As a result, I have received numerous emails and phone calls over the past two weeks from so many friends and even some people I did not know from Noblesville who just wanted to share their kind, caring thoughts and comments about Mike. For that I am very grateful. And on behalf of Mike’s wonderful wife, Betsy Harvey Kraft, and his talented daughter, Katherine Porter Kraft, along with my brothers, Jake and Tim, I want to sincerely thank everyone who contacted me on Mike’s behalf. I greatly appreciated your thoughtfulness.
John Haldon Kraft
Tallahassee, Fla.