Volume 1997 Issue 3
A Tribute to Harry D. Krause: Teacher
Nancy Rink Carter* & Robert L. Carter**
Returning to law school in the fall of 1971 after having worked for the State of Illinois (in Springfield) and Uncle Sam (in Vietnam), in the case of one of us, and for a U.S. Representative and later an agency lobbying Congress for quality standards for day care in the other's case, was quite a change of lifestyles. Many of our fellow law students had not yet experienced the worlds of work or war. Several faculty members at the law school were our age or younger and just beginning their careers.
Our initial encounter with Professor Krause was in first-year torts class. He had joined the law school faculty in 1963 and was already recognized as an authority in the field of family law by 1971. He conducted that first-year torts class with his characteristic thoroughness and dry wit. While working through the Restatement of Torts, we were exposed on many occasions to hypotheticals which combined Professor Krause's knowledge of the subject matter with this subtle sense of humor and heightened sense of irony.
By great good luck, as we were seeking part-time employment in the summer before our second year of law school, Professor Krause was seeking assistants to do legal research. Thus began a two-year association, both professional and personal, with Harry and Eva Krause and their three young sons. Our friendship with the Krause family greatly enhanced our law school experiences and, indeed, our lives at that time. Working closely with Professor Krause gave us a first-hand knowledge of his immense research and organizational skills as well as of his sound scholarship and strong command of his subject matter. Our boss was indefatigable as he went about his duties of teaching, researching, writing, and securing grants to continue his work in the areas of family, social welfare, and comparative law.
Many of the problems which Professor Krause addressed in the early 1970s represent some of the most critical concerns which our society is facing today. Under his direction we researched issues related to illegitimacy, paternity, welfare, social security, and the problems of the aging population. Thinking back to our discussions in and out of class with Professor Krause in those years, the matters which he raised as "purely hypothetical problems" dominate many of the legal debates in the United States in the 1990s. The thoughtful discussions we had then have served us well in our legal careers and as citizens in a changing society.
We were privileged to join a seminar which Professor Krause conducted on comparative law for graduate law students after our first year of law school. In that seminar, we met and shared information with law school graduates from many countries. With Professor Krause's guidance we examined and evaluated the various approaches and assumptions made in different cultures when addressing similar legal issues. During that same time, it was not uncommon for Harry and Eva to welcome the seminar participants into their home for evenings of good conversation and sociability with them and other faculty members and their spouses.
Thanks to the opportunities which the Krauses provided the seminar participants to meet and share ideas and experiences amidst their young family of three charming sons, many international friendships developed. Harry and Eva were the catalysts for our long-standing friendships with Sophia University Professor of Law Minoru Ishikawa and his wife, Seiko, of Tokyo, Japan, and Kevin O'Connor, the first Commissioner of Privacy for the Commonwealth of Australia, and his wife, Bernadette, of Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. We have been privileged to share a number of evenings of lively conversation and good fellowship with the Ishikawas and the O'Connors and their children in our home in Ottawa, Illinois, over the past twenty or so years. These enduring friendships began in Professor Krause's comparative law seminar and developed in the warm atmosphere of Harry and Eva's home in Urbana, something for which we will always be grateful.
Professor Krause embodies the characteristics of sound scholarship, strength of character, conviction and principle, an appreciation for family values, and a concern for the betterment of society. We feel fortunate to have been taught by him and to have worked for him during our law school days. We are privileged to join this tribute to him. Describing our personal reminiscences has rekindled many good memories of our former association. It is with great joy that we wish both Harry and Eva many happy years of "semi-retirement" with time to enjoy their family, their friends, and their intellectual pursuits.
* Staff Attorney, State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, Third Judicial District, in Ottawa, Illinois. J.D. 1974, University of Illinois College of Law.
** Chief Circuit Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, State of Illinois, LaSalle, Bureau, and Grundy Counties and past president of the Illinois Judges Association. J.D. 1974, University of Illinois College of Law.