Arnie Krause " Cooter" passed away in Newport Washington on November 12, 2024

Arnie was born to Stub and Beth Krause in La Grande OR on December 4, 1943.He attended Stella Mayfield Elementary and graduated from Elgin High School in 1962. He was very active in playing sports football, basketball and track. He still holds the javelin and shot-put records at Elgin High. He was also in the Letterman's club, FFA, Photo Club, Senior class President and Student Council. He went to college at Columbia Basin where he got his diesel mechanic degree. He was born and raised in Elgin OR. Elgin was always home to him. Arnie went into the Army and when he returned, he married Sharon Glasson Krause and started his family. They welcomed two daughters CeCe Krause and Alisha Krause. Arnie and Sharon were married 28 years and then got divorced. They still remained friends until her passing in April 2021. Judy Rayborne was his partner for several years until she moved to Walla Walla to be with her boys. How do you define a person that has touched so many lives in the 81 years he was with us on this planet.

Arnie was the life of the party and a Mr Fix it. He could fix anything kept his daughters' attitudes. Being the daughters of a very busy guy was a challenge sometimes because there wasn't always a lot of time to be around him. So, you either went with him or you stayed home. His girls were everything to him and we learned so much from the man that gave his everything for his family. He was always doing truck work in the driveway up at the house. You would always find him working in his shop on cars and helping people fix their cars. He owned and operated his own Log Truck business. He worked all over the State of Oregon. He made a name for himself in driving truck and being a mentor/coach for track and field at the Elgin High School. Arnie was well known for his love for racing. Racing at Starkey 4x4 races was always a blast for him and he loved drag racing his white pickup up in Starkey. He also built several small dirt race tracks in Union County and helped with one in Enterprise Oregon. He was very good at what he did for entertaining people at the small race tracks. His racing teams traveled to La Grande and raced out at the Fair Grounds in La Grande on Sundays for years until they closed the track down. Then he decided to build a local tracking Elgin out at the stampede grounds that ran for about 10 years or so. He brought years of excitement Saturday night racing at Elgin Outlaw Raceway he loved every minute of it. There was never a car that would be broke down. Unless it was really broken because Arnie would give the parts just so everybody could continue racing. He also traveled to Baker to drag race a few times in at the airport where he took his racing panel to the test on asphalt. Good times for sure and boy did he know how to build a small block chevy. If he could dream it up, he would make it come to life and it would be one badass machine. There is not a person that he wouldn't help. Whether it was getting woke up in the middle of the night to rescue one of the kids out of a ditch or go drag his own daughter out of a water bar with a broken rear end. He just helped with anything. He was involved with everything for his kids and others kids. He helped with little leagues of t-ball, wrestling, javelin and shot put. It didn't matter what it was if there were kids involved; he jumped in to help out. He donated money and his time in raising the kids of Elgin. He watched many of his really good friends pass before him and he just looked at things differently. The things that will be missed the most is his knowledge and just the way he looked at life. He loved his family and friends fiercely. As he started too slowed down in life, he enjoyed his great grandkids visiting the house. He couldn't chase them like he would like to but he enjoyed watching them grow up. He was a safe place for animals mainly his stray cats. He and his indoor cat LG had a language that only they could talk to each other and that cat understood him. He truly lived a great life of ups and downs but he loved beyond words. The man with 9 lives just like a cat. Thank you for the legacy of love and countless memories you left for all of us. We will celebrate you every day and you will never be forgotten.
Arnie is survived by his children, CeCe Krause (Bryan Nissen) Nevada, Alisha Krause (Jeremy Arrand) Washington. Sister Carol Crouser Krause, Elgin OR., Donnie and Sharon Glasson of Elgin OR., Sandy and Butch Tanzey of Wallowa, OR. Niece's Twila Ivins and Terri Miller (Bobby) Elgin OR. Grand Kids, Alyssa Krause, LaGrande, OR, AJ Plummer (Cortney) Elgin OR, Natasha (Tyler)Damon, Washington, Dalton Arrand, Washington. Great grandkids, Easton Krause, Addilyn Hess, Calli Jo Plummer, Lane Plummer and Peyton Damon.

There will be a celebration of life at the Elgin High School on July 19,2025 at 2pm with a dinner to directly follow at the Elgin Community Center.