Leta I. Kramer, 95, a retired secretary, farmer and volunteer whose late husband was South Barrington’s first village president, died Tuesday, June 12, in her Barrington home. Born and raised in Stockbridge, Vt., Mrs. Kramer grew up on a large dairy farm, where she discovered a passion for farming. She moved to Chicago in 1926 and worked as a secretary for several Chicago companies before she married in 1938. Four years later, the Kramers bought a dairy farm in South Barrington and Mrs. Kramer ran the farm and tended an apple orchard and grew oats and alfalfa for cattle. In 1959 her late husband, Frederick, became the first village president of South Barrington. Their farm served as the Village Hall for six years. “She was quite instrumental in that,” said her cousin Leigh Wright, who added that Mrs. Kramer provided secretarial assistance to the Village Board. They sold the farm in 1970 and moved to Barrington. She volunteered at the Countryside Center for the Handicapped in Palatine. “She thought she was 50, really,” her cousin said. “She was quite independent. She wasn’t as fast as she used to be, but she got around.” A visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday in Davenport Family Funeral Home, 149 W. Main St., Barrington. A service will begin at 10 a.m. Friday in the funeral home.
