Lucile Krug was longtime civic leader

Born at a time when women were fighting for the right to vote, Lucile Krug went on to become president of the Milwaukee League of Women Voters.

Her grandma was one of the original Wisconsin suffragists and that led to a lifelong passion for politics and encouraging others to get out and vote, niece Susan Levy said.

That passion also led to a life in civic leadership. Krug served on the Human Rights Commission, was a major supporter of the Milwaukee Public Library, served as chair of the Milwaukee Commission on Community Relations, helped the Urban League with its fair housing efforts and worked as a psychiatric social worker at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.

Krug died Aug. 17 at the age of 100.

While often quiet, when it came to issues she cared deeply about, such as current events and politics, Krug never hesitated to share her views.

“Until her last day she would enter fiercely into debates about issues she was passionate about,” said Victor Levy, Susan's husband. “Even if you agreed, there was always a debate.”

“My only disappointment is that she’s not going to get to vote for Hillary,” Susan Levy said. “I know she’s disappointed she won't get to help elect the country's first woman president.”

Krug earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1936, alongside her twin sister, Elizabeth Gallistel. Krug also earned a master's in social work at the UW-Milwaukee in 1966.

She met her husband, Richard Krug, when she moved to Milwaukee after finishing her undergraduate degree. The two got married in 1938.

Richard Krug was the Milwaukee city librarian from 1941 to 1975. In the late '60s, he was instrumental in developing the Milwaukee library branch system still in place today.

“They both thought that community access to the libraries was a tremendous part of building a community,” Susan Levy said.

After Richard passed away, Krug made a major donation to create the Richard and Lucile Krug Rare Books Room at the library and dedicated it in honor of her husband in 2001.

The room's collection consists of more than 16,000 items, including a complete set of John James Audubon’s Birds of America prints published from 1826 to 1838, an Ethiopian Magic Scroll from 1890 and an autograph book that contains signatures of prominent Americans such as Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt and Mark Twain.

Krug's support of the library didn't end after the rare books room was created. She also made donations to the East Branch library to create a community room, which was named the Lucile Krug Community Room. In 2008, the Milwaukee Public Library Foundation gave her the Benjamin Franklin Award for her donations and commitment to the library’s efforts.

She met two of her best friends — Val Stonek and Joan Herschberg — while working at Children’s Hospital.

The three traveled together, spent hours talking about current events and played enough scrabble to “wear out a few Scrabble boards," Stonek said.

Krug traveled the world, filling up nearly four passports, first with her husband and later with her sister, family and friends.

She went to China three times, visited much of South America, celebrated her 75th birthday at Jane Goodall's Gombe Stream camp in Tanzania and yachted along the Mediterranean coast of Turkey when she was 80.

“She was 80 years old and had no experience sailing,” Randy Gallistel, a nephew, said. “Like her sister, my mother, she was always willing to try something new and was never inclined to complain.”

Krug didn’t have children, so she would join her sister's family for holidays and vacations. Krug's sister died when she was 97, and to Krug's nephews and nieces, Krug was a second mother figure.

In her last few years, Krug was living in assisted-living at Saint John's On The Lake.

After she moved to Saint John’s, Stonek and Herschberg would visit every other week to play Scrabble.

“I was always impressed with how generous Lu was," Stonek said. "She was quiet in many ways, but had a deep, lasting concern for other people."

Lucile Ransom Krug

A memorial service and reception will be held at noon Sunday, Aug. 28, at the First Unitarian Society, 1342 N. Astor St. in Milwaukee. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Milwaukee Public Library or the First Unitarian Society.

Krug is survived by her nieces and nephews, Susan Gallistel Levy and her husband, Victor, Randy Gallistel and his wife, Rochel Gelman, Lucie Seward and her husband, Theodore, Anthony Albert Gallistel and John Knight.