In Memoriam, Paul Krebs

Today we bury my father.

My dad died on March 7th 2024. Last Monday we buried him. My thoughts, presented in a brief service (on a cold, very blustery morning), were:

Dad,

When you were born in Berleburg on Dec 4, 1928, your parents Lina and Julius could not have imagined you living till March 2024. In 1928, they probably imagined you spending your entire life in Germany, marrying a girl from a neighboring village and carrying on the family cattle business.

But the world had other plans for you: two years in Mechelen, Belgium; ten years in New York City; two years in Rochester; and finally back to the family business....but in little Spencerport New York, as Grandma called it. By then you had gone from little Paul (German pronunciation = Pow-ell), to American Paul.

• You tried to see the best in people, though you were always skeptical.

• You were kind and compassionate, always offered a hand, though you respected people most who were capable, independent and self-reliant.

• Judaism was critical to who you were, though you didn’t believe in God.

• You believed in the State of Israel, the people of Israel, though you never considered making Aliyah.

• You loved traveling the country, the continent, and the world, though you thought Spencerport was the best place in it.

• A Jewish burial was something you wanted, not because you thought it was something commanded by God, but because the Nazis robbed so many of your aunts, uncles, and cousins of theirs.

• Here in Mt Hope Cemetery, you are less than a step away from my mom, your loving wife of 60+ years. You are just down the road are your parents Julius and Lina Krebs, and your aunt and uncle Fritz and Ilse Krebs. And not so far from Frederick Douglass or Susan B Anthony, among Rochester’s finest.

I thank you for coming to honor my father, Paul Peter Ludwig Krebs, a wonderful father, grandfather, uncle, cousin, friend, and neighbor. I’m sure he can feel your presence with him today. He loved and admired all of you.

His obituary can be found on Legacy.com.