A spirit of generosity and compassion

Cliff and Marilyn Kraft have lived their entire lives with their faces turned towards Christ and their hands and feet working for Him.

The Ranch mission captured Cliff and Marilyn’s hearts when they learned about the ministry through a speaker at their church, and for 28 years, the Ranch has been a grateful recipient of their commitment to Christ’s work on earth.

“The Ranch is a Christian organization, which is important to us. The Lord has blessed us, and it’s a good way for us to give back,” Cliff said.

Their early years

Marilyn grew up in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where her parents were active members of the church. Marilyn’s dad was a painter who specialized in painting things high off the ground.

“My dad’s claim to fame was painting three Budweiser silos,” Marilyn said. “On the center silo, he painted a bottle that was 70 feet high, and the other two were 40-f00t-high beer cans. He had to come from the roof of the silos and use a swing stage to get down, but he wasn’t afraid. He painted church steeples and all sorts of things. My mother was a great homemaker, and she worked for my dad as well.”

“I had a very good childhood,” Marilyn said. “I was never hungry. I never felt poor. I just felt very loved.”

Cliff was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, where his parents took him to church and Sunday School and enrolled him in a parochial school.

After high school, Cliff attended Ohio State University where he graduated with a degree in horticulture. He started his career working for a horticulture company in Chicago. He said it was during his first year with the company that Marilyn “appeared on the scene.” He and the owner of the company were flying to Missouri. The owner had his own plane, but he couldn’t remember the name of the hotel where they were staying. Cliff’s secretary told him she had a Triple A directory and would find it.

“I went to her apartment that night so she could look it up and when I walked in, I saw a picture of two girls,” Cliff said. “I said, ‘Who are the girls?’ She told me they were her nieces and when I asked about one of them and she told me she was single, I said, ‘Well, how about fixing me up?'”

At the time, Marilyn, the lovely young woman in the picture, was teaching in Wisconsin. When she visited for the weekend a couple weeks later, her aunt Lorraine invited Cliff to lunch to meet her.

“We scheduled a date for that night, and I was to pick her up at Aunt Lorraine’s second floor apartment,” Cliff said. “I got there a bit late and when I opened the bottom door and looked up the steps, Marilyn was standing there. She says, ‘You’re late. I’m not going to go out with you.’ Then she left laughing!”

Fortunately, Marilyn came back out, they went on the date and were married six months later.

Discovering philanthropy

When asked if his parents instilled in him a spirit of giving, Cliff said, “I knew they gave to the church and they talked about how you always help people. They were very ethical and true to God, but those things weren’t discussed back then.”

Cliff said he didn’t think much about philanthropy until he and Marilyn moved to Dallas shortly after they were married.

“On our first Sunday in church we ran into a couple, Gus and Bernice Melde,” Cliff said, “and we became very good friends. We adopted two of our children when we lived in Dallas and Gus and Bernice were right there helping us raise our children.”

“Gus was one of the best role models in my life,” he said. “The way he did things was built around honesty, truth, and Christian ethics. He was very involved in church and the Lutheran Hour Ministries, so I got involved with that also.”

After eight years in Dallas, Cliff and Marilyn moved to West Chicago, IL, where Cliff managed a subsidiary office of the Pan American Seed Company. From there they moved to Pennsylvania, where they continue to live today. They adopted their third child and became involve din their church. Cliff help about every volunteer position available—council president, Sunday School teacher and superintendent, Bible Study teacher, and member of the LCMS Eastern District Board of Directors.

He took the lessons he learned from Gus to heart and carried them into his work, especially after starting his own business, Kraft Associates, ODA Inc., that provided management and organizational consulting for small to medium-sized businesses.

“It was a continual learning process,” Cliff said. “I met a lot of different people, and an umber of my clients were going off the track. There were times I sat down with them and told them they had to get themselves squared away. Not necessarily in those words, but asking them, ‘Where are you with God?’ Everything I learned from the Bible is basically about helping people. So that’s what I did.”

Cliff recalls one potential client who came into his office and said, “Hey, I need you.”

“After we sat down, I asked him to tell me about himself and his company. After listening to him, I said, ‘You need to make some changes. If you aren’t going to be honest with your employees and in what you’re doing, we can’t work together.’ He told me he had to think about it and that was that. It was a fairly large corporation, but I wasn’t willing to do away with my values, principles, and ethics.”

When Cliff “retired” 22 years ago, he became involved with Orphan Grain Train, and until very recently, managed the Mid-Atlantic branch of the Orphan Grain Train family.

“We shipped all around the world and that was very gratifying,” he said. “I retired from that in January, so now I’m retired for real. We live in an adult community which is outstanding, one of the best things we’ve done. They have all types of entertainment, gardening, and whatever you want to do. And the food is excellent. We’ve been blessed.”

Marilyn agrees, and says their lives have allowed them to support ministries they believe in.

A good life

“We’ve had a good life, and the Lord has blessed us with good kids and all the things we could possibly want or need,” Marilyn said.

While Marilyn said Cliff is the impetus behind their support for the Ranch, she is a willing and interested participant.

“The Ranch is a special place,” she said. “There are so many hurting kids these days that need help. The fact that you can help them is a real blessing for them and for their families as well.”

Cliff and Marilyn Kraft live with a spirit of generosity and compassion. Now in their 90s, they continue to support a host of ministries dear to their hearts. Through their significant contributions to the Ranch and other causes, they are changing lives.