Douglas Clark Kranz

Doug was born in Sellersburg, Indiana, to the late Myrtle Elizabeth and Jacob Benjamin Kranz. He attended Purdue University and obtained a BS in agriculture and an MS in business management. After graduating from Purdue, he served in the U.S. Army as an officer in Military Intelligence. After his military service, he worked for Phillips Petroleum as a regional sales manager and retired at the young age of fifty-five. He then worked as a general contractor and home builder for ten years before retiring again.

He and Mary Alice met at Purdue, and they were married for sixty-two years. After moving to Marietta in the mid-seventies, they became faithful members of Roswell United Methodist Church, where they sang in the Sanctuary Choir for nearly forty years.

Doug was an accomplished musician. He played percussion and trumpet in the Purdue University Band, along with Astronaut Neil Armstrong. He also had a keen knowledge of church pipe organs. For many years, he and his father-in-law traveled the country “rescuing” church organs from churches that were being demolished. He and Mary Alice had a four-rank organ in their home, which they found in Normandy United Methodist Church in suburban St. Louis. He also served on the committee to choose the builder for the 94-rank Möller pipe organ purchased for the RUMC Sanctuary in 1989, and he served for many years as the tuning “assistant” for this organ.

Doug is survived by nieces, Holly Anne Stuart, Betsy Kranz Jones, and Kay Kranz Stiles; and nephews, James and Michael Stuart.

A celebration of Doug’s life will be held on Saturday, June 22, 2019, at 10 a.m. in the Roswell United Methodist Church Sanctuary. The family will receive friends immediately following the service. In lieu of flowers, please make contributions to the Roswell United Methodist Church Worship Arts Ministry.