Thelma M. Kraft, 102, of Hughesville, died Thursday, March 6, 2025 at Sylvia G. Thompson Residence Center in Sedalia.

Memorial services will be Saturday, March 15, 2025 at 2:00 P.M. at McLaughlin Funeral Chapel in Sedalia, with Rev. Dawn Gerard and Rev. Gary Smith officiating. Inurnment will be in Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation will be from 1:00 until 2:00 P.M. Saturday at the funeral chapel. Memorials are suggested to the Wesley United Methodist Church or Liberty Life Center in care of McLaughlin Funeral Chapel.

Born July 17, 1922 in Sedalia, she was the daughter of the late George Brunckhorst and Effie Bradley Brunckhorst. On July 20, 1947 at the First Baptist Church in Sedalia, she married Walter H. Kraft, and he preceded her in death on February 10, 1999.

She is survived by a daughter, Donna Kay Sawford and her son-in-law William Allen Sawford, of rural Smithton. She was preceded in death by a son, Frederick Kraft; and a brother Norvel Brunckhorst.

Mrs. Kraft was an active member of Wesley United Methodist Church in Sedalia, and the United Methodist Women organization. She taught children’s Sunday school at Wesley United Methodist for many years. She was a member of the Rural Youth Organization during her younger years, and was active in the Farm Bureau organization. She was active in the Pettis County 4-H, as a member in her youth, then becoming a local club leader, before becoming a project leader in Ceramics. She was instrumental in Ceramics being added as a 4-H project choice. She received the Friend of 4-H Award for Pettis County in 1999, and also received the Distinguished Service Award when she had completed thirty-six years of service to 4-H. She was recognized for fifty-five years of service in the Pettis County 4-H in 2005. She was inducted in the Missouri 4-H Hall of Fame in 2010. She was a member of the Show-Me Crafters, and was well-known at craft shows for her ceramics, which reached as far as being distributed in Christian Missions in Palestine. She was active in national, state, and local politics. She supported her husband in farming activities. She was a 1940 graduate of Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia, and attended Central Business College for two years. She began working for Sedalia Savings & Loan while in college, and quit later following her marriage. She briefly worked for the local Farm Bureau agent, and beginning in the mid-1970s, she turned her ceramic hobby into a business.