Florence Kruger

• Home Economics Professor 1929-1963

• Home Economics Department Chair 1929-1958

Biography

Florence Kruger was born in Chicago, IL in 1896 and moved with her family to Marion, IA. She graduated from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA in 1918 with majors in German, mathematics, and home economics. She received her master’s degree in home economics at the University of Iowa at Iowa City and taught at Wartburg College for nine years before coming to Concordia in 1929.

Kruger is credited with keeping the department functioning during the Great Depression when funding was scarce. She organized silent auctions, athlete dinners, and food sales to raise money and also accepted potato and onion donations from area farmers. Wanting to give home economics majors a practical experience, Kruger organized the home management house in the fall of 1941. For six weeks at a time, six students lived in the house and assumed various rotating duties such as head cook, hostess, and laundress.  Kruger also lived in the house and served as its residence head. Kruger was described in the 1947 Cobber as "expecting and receiving nothing but the best from her students."