For the first time in more than a decade, students, staff and visitors entering Seckman High School’s main office won’t be greeted by secretary Denise Kraus.
She retired at the end of June after working at the high school since the 1998-1999 school year. Kraus, a 1980 Fox High School graduate, had been the Seckman High lead secretary since the 2007-2008 school year.
She started her full-time 25-year career in the Fox C-6 School District at Meramec Heights Elementary School in the 1997-1998 school year. Before that, she was a substitute secretary for the district from 1995 to 1997.
“I love the school,” said Kraus, 60, of Barnhart. “That was my heart and soul, working there. It was hard to leave.”
Jeff Krutzsch, who has been the Seckman High principal since 2019, said it will be difficult to replicate what Kraus brought to the building.
“She is the most knowledgeable person about the building, history of the district and community at large that I know. It is not just that she is good at her job as a secretary, but she really knows Seckman and the community better than anybody.
“She was the building secretary under three principals, Don Grimshaw, Todd Scott and me. The three of us have different leadership styles, and she was able to adapt to all three of us. She is invaluable to the building principal. We all know secretaries run buildings, and there couldn’t be anything more true than that with Denise. She was almost an auxiliary administrator with her knowledge of the building and how to run the building.”
Erin Duren, who had been the building secretary at Seckman Middle School, will take over as the high school’s new main office secretary. Board of Education members voted 5-0 June 21 to approve the change. Scott, who was elected to the board in April, abstained from the vote because of a conflict in other consent agenda items, and Krystal Hargis was not at the meeting.
“Those will be tough shoes to fill,” Krutzsch said. “You can’t replace (Kraus’) level of experience. But, I am fortunate that Erin Duren, who was at Seckman Middle School, will be our building secretary. She brings a level of expertise with her.”
Stepping down
Kraus said she didn’t plan to leave Seckman High after this last school year, but her family situation changed hastening her retirement. She said her husband, Garry, 63, had been battling Merkel cell carcinoma, which the Mayo Clinic website says is a rare type of skin cancer, but he is in remission now.
However, one of her three daughters – Megan Nuelle, 31 – also is battling cancer after being diagnosed with undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma.
Kraus said she and her husband help watch her daughter’s 2-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son while she is undergoing treatment.
In addition, Kraus also helps her father who has congestive heart failure and he lives with her and her husband.
Kraus said she decided to retire not only because of her family members’ health issues, but also because she wanted more time to spend with her grandchildren. Her 33-year-old twin daughters – Jessica Cathcart and Serina Hoehn – each have two children. Cathcart gave birth to twin boys in March, and Hoehn has a 3-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter.
Kraus’ youngest child – 19-year-old Kody Kraus – attends Jefferson College.
“I was going to work one more year, but I said it is time for me to retire,” Kraus said.
Working at Fox
Kraus said the year she spent working at Meramec Heights Elementary, from 1997-1998, helped prepare her for the secretary job at Seckman High.
“When you are at an elementary school, you learn every aspect of every job because it is only you. When I went to Seckman the next year, I already knew how to do all the jobs,” she said.
Kraus was the Seckman High guidance office secretary for the 1998-1999 school year before becoming the secretary for former assistant principal Bob Bostic in the 2001-2002 school year.
She said things have changed over the past 24 years.
“When I started, you printed schedule cards either by alphabetical order by grade level or alphabetical order for the whole school. We needed to sort them by classroom, so the kids could pick them up in advisory,” Kraus said. “My mom, my three girls and I would sit on the floor in the summer, and I would have a list of what classrooms the kids would be in. We would call out a name, and we would find the schedule card to put in the right room. We would do it again during Christmas break. Things have changed a little bit since I have been there.”
One thing that never changed during her time at Seckman High was Kraus’ love of the school.
“Denise is a wonderful person,” said Scott, who was Seckman High’s principal from 2015 to 2019. “I couldn’t have done that job without her willingness to be there for the kids, parents and teachers. It is a huge loss for the building. A principal leaving is one thing, but when a building secretary leaves, that is the heartbeat of the building and office leaving.”
A final act
One clear sign that shows how much Kraus cared about Seckman can be seen every time someone drives onto the Imperial campus that houses Seckman high, middle and elementary schools.
That road is named Jaguar Lane because of Kraus, Krutzsch said.
After improvements were completed on Seckman Road, the road that leads to the campus was named Seckman Spring Lane. Seckman Spring is the name of a subdivision that is next to the campus, Krutzsch said.
“She was puzzled by that,” Krutzsch said. “She wanted to know why it can’t be called something more relevant and celebrate who we are. She called the road department to find out who makes these decisions. It is now Jaguar Lane. That is so much more flattering to our building and roadway, and that is thanks to Denise doing all of the legwork to say, ‘Why wouldn’t it be this instead of what they named it?’”
Kraus said she was proud when an assistant principal at the school called her to let her know about the road’s new name.
“It was kind of high-five moment,” she said. “I said the last thing I am going to do is get that sign changed.”
Krutzsch said having the road changed to a name that better reflects the school campus is just one more example of why on the last day of school, Kraus was given a graduation cap that referred to her as the queen bee.
“The funny thing is, when we think about a beehive, it is the bees protecting the queen,” he said. “It couldn’t have been more opposite for Denise. She was the protector of Seckman High School. She truly guarded this building. She viewed it as her job to protect Seckman High School. That will be tough to replace.”