Candy Krausman Named Nevada Mother of the Year
Contributed By Valerie Johnson, Church News staff writer
Candy Krausman with her husband, Gary, and family. Sister Krausman was honored as Nevada’s Mother of the Year by American Mothers Inc.
Article Highlights
- Candy Krausman joined the Church at age 12 and got her first calling at age 14.
- After her mother’s death, the household fell to her.
- Now she works to benefit her community, especially those in similar situations.
“The Lord’s pattern of dealing with relationships became so vital as I watched people live it because my mother wasn’t a member and my father wasn’t a member.” —Candy Krausman, Nevada Mother of the Year
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
Candy Krausman of the Hacienda Heights Ward, Las Vegas Nevada Spring Mountain Stake, has spent many years honoring influential women in her community by nominating them for Clark County’s Mother of the Year and by serving as chairman of Nevada’s American Mothers Inc. chapter. This year, however, “my friends turned on me and nominated me,” she said.
Sister Krausman was recently honored as Nevada’s Mother of the Year by American Mothers Inc.
At 12 years old, she said, she joined the Church “because the people in my neighborhood were so good to take me to church,” Sister Krausman said. “They gave me a calling from the time I was 14. I was the Primary music director. For 25 years, I kept that same calling. And then I played the piano, but I played terribly.”
The love and care that her newfound ward showed her inspired and strengthened her. “The Lord took care of me,” Sister Krausman said. “He allowed me to join the Church at 12, and He didn’t allow me to get lost.”
Then while she was a sophomore at BYU, her mother passed away. All at once, the Relief Society sisters came into their home to give Sister Krausman’s family the help they needed. “Those women took care of us. … I started to watch those women. I was truly enamored with all they could do.
“My mother had taught us how to work,” Sister Krausman said. But after her mother’s death, many of the household tasks fell to her, including caring for three younger siblings. The sisters in the Relief Society took her under their wing and taught her many of the skills that she still needed to learn. “They could sew anything from a costume to a quilt. I had never seen a woman like that,” she said. “I wouldn’t have known all the rest of those things if those women hadn’t been there.”
She married a physical therapist named Gary Krausman, and they had two children. They now have two grandchildren. “The Lord’s pattern of dealing with relationships became so vital as I watched people live it because my mother wasn’t a member and my father wasn’t a member,” Sister Krausman said. “I don’t know how I would have survived without that.”
For many years while raising her children, Sister Krausman served in the Scouting program. She’s also been a ward Relief Society president and is an ordinance worker in the Las Vegas Nevada Temple and stake Relief Society president. “I have learned that plastic silverware and paper plates are your best friends,” she said.
For 10 years, Sister Krausman has also taught Baby Think It Over classes for a nonprofit organization to 30,000 to 40,000 high school students. Through teaching the Baby Think It Over class, she said, “I suddenly found out why the Lord said not to drink.” The class is designed to help young people understand the consequences of irresponsible sexual intimacy, which goes beyond the risk of STDs. “You have to take care of who you are and what you value,” she said.
As a Relief Society president, Sister Krausman has had the opportunity to be a part of ward council and discuss how to help recent converts. “One of those times, I’m sitting in the ward council meeting and the bishop throws out, ‘Now, we’ve got this girl living in a trailer park who’s 13 or 14.’” As they discussed ways to help this new convert, Sister Krausman said, “I realized I was this discussion. Somebody talked about ‘What are we going to do with Candy?’ And they made a decision about what to do with Candy and I didn’t even know it.” Then the bishop, knowing she had once been in this position, asked Sister Krausman for her input. She said to the ward council, “If we take care of her like they took care of me, she’ll be OK.”
