Orba Lee Krueger

October 16, 1930 - June 2, 2018

Our dear Orba Lee Krueger went home to the Lord on Saturday, June 2, 2018.  She resided in her Buena Park home for 54 years.  She passed peacefully, surrounded by loved ones.

Orba Lee joins her husband, Bob, her daughter Sandie and Sandie’s husband, Mike in joyful, Heavenly reunion.  She and Bob were sweethearts for an amazing 63 years!  She is survived by her daughter, Debi, her husband Tom, sons Dan and Greg and his wife Marty. Her legacy includes twelve grandchildren, twenty great-grandchildren and ten great-great-grandchildren.  She is much loved and greatly missed.

She had the most infectious and bright smile, sassy side and most of all, a great and genuine love for each and every one of her family and friends.

Her countless friends were blessed over the years by this amazing woman.  A lifelong commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ made her a source of help and hope, joy and love.  She was sought after as a Bible study leader, public speaker and committee lead.

Orba Lee was the head of Women Aglow, a women’s prison ministry.  Her outreach helped many women turn their lives around and become productive members of society and better mothers.  She saw a lot in her Christian walk but always knew where her Strength lay. Even as her health faded, her confidence in Christ did not.  She still had amazing words for family and friends that attested to her great spiritual strength. 

A Los Angeles Times columnist sought her out and wrote an enlightening article about Orba Lee and her prison ministry in 1994. 

Here is an excerpt of that column…Krueger decided as a teenager to be a missionary…she wanted to make some kind of difference in the world.

She didn’t expect to do it behind prison walls.

“I’m the most unlikely prospect for this,” she says and she’s right.  She’s prim in appearance, proper in speech and manner.

…but Krueger doesn’t hide her contempt for some of the aspects of the penal system that affect women.

“I know a lot of women who shouldn’t be in prison”, she says. “They have not committed violent crimes and they’ve been removed from their families for a very long time for crimes that have been in defense of their children.”…

Women Aglow not only offers spiritual guidance for prisoners but follows it up with post-imprisonment contact.  Krueger says, “We help them feel like a person. They begin to feel like they have some worth, because we go in time after time.”

I asked Krueger about the thankless nature of her work, the anonymity of it all.

She begged to disagree.  “The missionary call I felt when I was in my teens, this is the missionary work”, she says.  “It seems so natural. I feel like these are just girls who made wrong choices.  From the first time I went, I felt I had found my niche.” ###

A Life Celebration Service will be held on Saturday, JULY 14 at 10:00 a.m.  at Crossroads Christian Church, 2331 Kellogg Ave, Corona, CA 92881, in the chapel immediately adjacent to the main sanctuary.  A reception and lunch will follow in the church fellowship hall.

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.                                                 Isaiah 40:31

 Who You Are

You are a daughter of the Most High God.

You are a caring Mother, Grami, Sister, Aunt and friend.

Generous and full of laughter.

You are a women of prayer, seeing the best in others.

Loving each of us unconditionally.

You are beautiful, funny and young at heart. 

You are treasured by all!  You left us your best.

You are now with your Bobby and Jesus. 

You are His!!

 Orba Lee’s Legacy

Born October 16, 1930 in San Diego, California to Charles Ora Hill and Florence Marie Hill. Orba Lee was one of three girls, her older sister Carol and her younger sister Jacqueline.

When Orba Lee was just a little girl her father passed away, and her mom packed up the girls and moved to Compton, California. At the age of 15 Orba Lee made her commitment to the Lord. At Camp Radford in the San Bernardino mountains Orba Lee met the love of her life, Robert Krueger.  They were united in marriage just a few years later on October 1, 1949.

It was in Santa Monica and then Lakewood where Bob and Orba Lee started their family of 4 children; Sandie, Greg, Debi and Dan. Bob and Orba Lee’s family has grown considerably since then to 12 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren and 9 great-great-grandchildren.  All because two people fell in love.  Such a legacy.

 After her children were grown Orba Lee heeded the call she had felt as a teen, With much prayer she founded the Women Aglow Prison Ministries. A group that goes into women’s prisons to offer spiritual guidance and most of all hope. Bob became an Advisor and they worked together. In honor of this work and their life-long commitment to the Lord, Bob and Orba Lee were awarded Honorary Doctorate Degrees in Divinity from the Seminary of Biblical Studies and Ministry, August 31, 2007.

 Orba Lee’s life was not without trials. In 2002 her oldest daughter Sandie went home to be with the Lord. Then Orba’s beloved husband Bob followed in 2012. But through it all she exemplified how love and faith in the Lord brings hope and courage and an inner joy and strength, even during tough times.

 Orba Lee has left our family with a legacy of love and evangelism. She always emphasized the importance of having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “Prayer is just a conversation with Jesus“, she would say. Through faith and accepting His forgiveness we can be reborn, set free, living with new hope and peace.