Anne Elizabeth Kraft


December 3, 1992 - March 1, 2005

Before she was 8-1/2 Anne was a normal kid. She liked to climb trees, play soccer, attend gymnastics classes, play piano, design and make Halloween costumes, cook, plant flowers and vegetables, and make things.

After she was diagnosed with leukemia, Anne was still a normal kid. But now treatment for her illness often made her sick or tired, and she was unable to play the way she once had.

She still designed Halloween costumes, mixed tuna salad and made pancakes. But now Anne also…
beaded bracelets, 
sewed clothes for herself and for her bedtime friend Scooter,
 gave away sachets she made with lavender she’d grown, 
sculpted figures out of clay and threw pots on the wheel, 
wrote poetry, 
folded pinwheel streamers and tissue paper flowers, 
designed tiny clay food and a shrinky-dink bracelet for the State Fair, 
constructed puppets, created fairies with their own homes and furniture and 
pressed flowers and leaves for stationery.
 Most often Anne drew with pencils, crayons and markers because she could travel with paper almost everywhere. And wherever she went, Anne became known as an artist.

Anne believed that anything was possible, both in her own life and in her art, and she frequently reminded herself that nothing is perfect. I wish for you creativity, vision, determination, and the ability to settle for a bit less than perfection in your art. I hope that your work will bring as much joy as Anne’s art brought to her and to those around her.

Mary Pat Roberts, Anne's mother