Honorees

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Year Honored
2001
Honoree
Dennis W Krause
Agency
Concordia Fire Protection Dist
Agency City
Concordia
Agency State
MO
Last Call
1/18/88
Cause of Death
Struck at Scene
Biography
He got up as he did every Monday morning, drank his coffee and kissed his wife good-bye. He went to the service station he owned and operated when a call came across the radio that an ambulance was needed for an automobile accident. This Monday the roads had a thin layer of ice and the fog was very thick. Yet something calls you to help people, and not just anyone can do EMS work.<br /> <br /> Dennis W. Krause, 38, of Concordia, was struck by a car as it came sliding into the scene of a chain-reaction accident on an ice-glazed highway near Concordia, Missouri on January 18,1988. Dennis was among the first emergency personnel on the scene and had just gone to one of the vehicles where two victims were pinned. He was leaning into the car checking on one of the passengers when the skidding car struck him. He was thrown approximately forty feet by the impact. Mr. Krause was taken to Community Hospital, and then transferred to the University Medical Center in Columbia, where he died during surgery.<br /> <br /> Mr. Krause had been an Emergency Medical Technician with the Concordia Fire Protection District since June of 1986. He was a Mason and a senior deacon in the Mount Hope Lodge. He was a member of Concordia V.F.W. Post 5649, and was committee chairman of Cub Scout Pack No. 258, Concordia. He was a U.S. Army veteran and served in the Vietnam conflict during which time he received the Bronze Star. He was the owner of Denny's 66 Station till the time of his death. He was a beloved family man and the proud father of three sons. "We, as emergency professionals, risk our lives daily for mankind; we're a rare breed of people," stated Pam Starkebaum, EMT Assistant Captain with Concordia Ambulance Service. "Denny had given his all in the line of duty trying to save another life."<br /> <br /> Three sons, Chad, Troy, and Scott Krause; his wife, Shirley Krause Krzesinski; his parents, Roy and Rose Krause; a brother, Ron Krause and a sister, Mary Hughes survive Dennis W. Krause.<br /> <br /> Honored 2001