Eulogy

Eliza Raen Benterud (Krauss)

March 29, 1990 – February 5, 2025

Two months ago today… Here is my beautiful daughter’s eulogy.

Eliza Raen was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on March 29, 1990, to proud parents Gerald and Tracy Krauss. Her father called her my ‘Big City Girl’ right from the start, since she was nearly three weeks late, refusing to be born in rural Churchill where the family lived, and instead waiting to arrive after being shipped off by plane the 1000 km south to Winnipeg.

From day one, Eliza was her older sisters’ little dolly. Lydia and Priscilla doted on their adorable sister. Their family was completed two years later when little brother Zachary arrived.

Life in the Krauss house was never dull, but always transient. Her father’s sense of adventure took the family to live in many remote and interesting places, including Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, North West Territories and Yukon. Eliza later moved to Alberta on her own, completing the circuit of western provinces where she could say she had lived.

From a very young age, Eliza had an incredible memory. “Eliza has a memory like an elephant and elephants never forget!” was a phrase often used. Since her name also started with an ‘E,’ she developed a childhood love of elephants, which led to an extensive collection. Eliza was the original ‘Fact Checker.’ She had an incredibly gifted memory and always kept all the facts straight for her family, friends and employers. While wonderfully helpful if you needed to know pretty much anything, it was also a great source of annoyance if trying to tell a ‘really funny story’ while having your facts corrected!

Eliza started ‘reading’ before she was two. We all knew she had just memorized her favourite books, but it was a good joke to get her to read to someone who didn’t know! She also loved to sing. She sang herself to sleep each night from the time she was one year old. This habit continued throughout her life. When she was only three and her older sisters fell sick, little Eliza still got up on stage alone in front of a packed auditorium and sang perfectly ‘Santa Wouldn’t Have a Job Without Jesus.’

Eliza was always a very sensitive child. Her parents didn’t need to discipline her very often because she would just start crying heartfelt tears of remorse whenever she did something she knew she shouldn’t have! She had a love for beautiful things all her life. She loved wearing pretty dresses when she was young. In contrast to Priscilla’s overalls and bandanas or Lydia’s eccentric artsy taste, Eliza was steady in her love of classic beauty. She especially loved her special Mary-Jane shoes, and this love of nice shoes carried into her adult life, especially after working in the same high-end shoe store in Edmonton where both of her sisters had also worked.

Unlike her blonde sisters and brother, Eliza had beautiful, thick chestnut hair. Lovely as an adult, but difficult when she was a child! Her hair was always in a tangled nest each morning, no matter what her mother tried. Finally, she got a short haircut. She was so proud of her ‘mushroom cut’ that it lasted for years!

Eliza was very good with money, worked hard and knew how to save. She bought her yellow VW beetle with her own money when she was 14, and then saved and paid for it to be restored by a family friend.

Eliza loved numbers, puzzles, sudoku, Rubik’s cubes and other challenging mind work. Her great mind, combined with her work ethic and determination, which some might even call stubbornness, meant she always did well in school. She was valedictorian three times! (In high school, her aesthetics certificate, and in her years at Northern Lights College.)

Eliza met Dustin when they were small children and their families both homeschooled in Fort St. John. Sonja and Priscilla became ‘best friends,’ and so the Krauss and Benterud families remained connected through many moves and long distances. This family friendship eventually united into even stronger family ties when Kurtis Benterud and Priscilla Krauss were married in 2008. Dustin and Eliza were both part of the wedding party, and there were quite a few, “Wouldn’t it be fun if they were to get married too?” comments floating around.

Three weeks earlier, Eliza had graduated from high school in Watson Lake, Yukon. Over the next few years, Eliza moved between Kelowna, BC; Edmonton, AB; and Tumbler Ridge, BC. She went to a “Discipleship Training School” to deepen her faith, completed a certificate in aesthetics, and worked at several different jobs, including Kunitz Shoes, Secretary to the Music Pastor at Millwoods Pentecostal Church, and as a waitress. During those years she had a profound impact on many, including her mentorship of young women through small groups and Bible studies and through her participation in the huge Easter musical held at Millwoods church. She also travelled the world on mission trips to Thailand and China and went on a trip to Japan with her older sister Lydia.

Unsure of where her life was leading, Eliza decided to once again pursue schooling, this time in Business Accounting at Northern Lights College in Fort St. John.  They offered a cool Japanese exchange program, and Kurtis & Priscilla offered room and board, so why not? In usual Eliza fashion, she zealously took on learning the Japanese language in preparation for her trip – not an easy endeavour, but just the kind of challenge that Eliza relished.

In the fall of 2014, Eliza moved in with Kurtis & Priscilla and her first niece, Evangeline, and never looked back. Kurtis’s young bachelor brother, Dustin, was a regular dinner guest at the house. The two started hanging out more and more with their shared niece and then just together. The couple officially started dating in December of 2014 — to the surprise of no one — and the delight of all!

In May of 2015, Dustin proposed. The next day, Eliza left on her Japanese exchange. Those were long weeks for the couple, as Dustin was doing a major renovation on their home, and Eliza was wishing to be there to help renovate and plan the wedding. Eliza finally returned home that summer and they were married on September 19, 2015.

Eliza threw herself wholeheartedly into being a wife and a homemaker. She was determined to learn to cook well, and she more than succeeded. She was always generous with food and loved to host people in their home. Eliza was well known for her gorgeous creations and tasty, hearty, and healthy meals during times of sorrow, sickness, or new babies.

Eliza loved homemaking and kept everything well organized, from paperwork to the least important drawer in her house. She loved things to be colour-coordinated or to fit together ‘just so.’ If asked where something was, she could tell you in detailed steps where to find it.

Eliza loved to use her hands creatively. She tried many crafts over the years, always with an intricate pattern and an eye to perfection. Her favourites were sewing and crocheting. She sewed countless baby blankets over the years — for family, friends, coworkers, and many other people – even people she heard had a baby but didn’t know. She loved to bless people with a meal and a baby blanket and to make each child feel welcomed and loved.

Dustin and Eliza began growing their family on September 21, 2017, with the arrival of their first daughter, Ingrid Mayme. What a learning curve! Ingrid was surrounded by loving family and friends from the start and couldn’t have had two more proud parents. Her precise little personality and incredible memory for detail was so much like Eliza! Ingrid was a delight to her mother, always wanting to help care for her younger siblings, even when she was no more than a toddler herself.

The family grew again when a second daughter, Freyja Doreen, arrived eighteen days late on April 11, 2019. She had the dark hair and sensitive, vibrant spirit of her mother. Freyja sings herself to sleep just as Eliza always did. She feels deeply, and loves vastly and lit up Eliza’s life.

Dustin and Eliza bought their farm in Farmington, BC, in the fall of 2019. They have been so happy building a life together — hosting many gatherings and dinner parties, always including amazing food. They have spent the last five years on their farm raising children, and even some animals! Eliza did not grow up with a love of animals but had recently been cultivating a love for home-raised foods, so they began raising pigs and chickens. They were also homeschooling the children and above all, teaching them to love and serve the Lord.

The pride of a mother’s heart is her son. Dustin and Eliza welcomed their son, Iver Ragnvald, on November 8, 2020. What a precious little ball of energy to liven up their home. Iver got everyone moving and helped Eliza to cultivate a love for the outdoors.

Next arrived Greta Raen on July 30, 2022. She was named for her mother and has a loving heart to match. Eleven minutes later, their unexpected blessing, Jane Halla, joined her twin sister. Jane brightens up the world with her smile and exceptional memory, just like Eliza. Two precious little girls with very different personalities, but both so much like their mother. Greta and Jane brought a whole new set of dynamics, but Dustin and Eliza took it in stride and embraced each new challenge wholeheartedly, thanking the Lord for his merciful provision and double blessing.

Dustin & Eliza’s sixth child was anticipated with great joy by her five siblings and parents. The excitement around this new baby was overwhelming and contagious. Elsa Priscilla was longed for and loved deeply. She arrived in God’s perfect timing, on January 15, 2025.

In His providence, the Lord granted Dustin and Eliza an especially sweet fall and winter this past year, filled with daily memories of special meals around the table, ski-dooing and good fellowship with friends and family. Christmas and Advent were Eliza’s favourite time of year and she went all-out to celebrate our Lord’s birth. Dustin took all of December off and the family made many extra special memories. God is faithful.

While her fashion sense and interests changed over the years, one constant in Eliza’s life was the fact that she loved her Saviour, Jesus Christ. She had a strong faith from a very young age and developed a mature sense of discernment as a young woman, often praying for others or offering a word of encouragement. Dustin & Eliza were faithful members of Trinity Covenant Church. Eliza blossomed among her friends and Christian brothers and sisters. She truly loved her church family and the fellowship they enjoyed.

Eliza was a devoted wife and mother who loved life, loved her family, loved to bless and serve people, and above all, loved the Lord. Her sweet demeanour, bubbly personality, and kind spirit, brightened any room she entered. She will be sorely missed.

Eliza Rean Benterud (Krauss)

March 29, 1990 – February 5, 2025