Rudi William Kraak a Life Lived

Rudi William Kraak was born 4 am December 12, 1994 at Vancouver Children’s Hospital, to the most excited though exhausted parents, Vince and Beverley. 

We lived in a lovely old apartment two blocks from Stanley Park, so we had many strolls through the woods and around the sea wall. In 1995, Rudi joined Granny Hope and his Mum Beverley for a trip to Ontario, his first airplane trip.

In January 1996, the Kraak family decided to move back to Sydney, Australia, and on July 2, 1996, Rudi’s younger brother Louis was born. Life was good in Australia, so much sun and many hours spent at the white sandy beaches, body surfing and lazing about. As we had no extended family near, our friends became our family. 

Being in Sydney also made it easier to travel back and forth to New Zealand where his Oma, Catharine Kraak, and Opa, Vincent Kraak, Sr., lived in Auckland. They originally came from Holland moving out after the War and decided to stay forever. Vincent has two sisters Fran and Sue and with their families we would spend many Holidays.

During his years as a child Rudi went on numerous flights to Canada and New Zealand with occasional stops along the way. His favourite, Disneyland in California, where he favoured the roller coaster rides: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, California Zooming, Splash Mountain and Indiana Jones Adventure the most frequented. As parents you always worry young kids will be somewhat disruptive on flights as these were 15 hours plus, but both our boys did extremely well (game boys were a big hit then). Also, these were times that kids could sleep on the floor in front of you (yes, more leg room) and meet the pilots in the cockpit.

Rudi was a curious and adventurous child, never shy of scrambling up a tree, jumping off a cliff to the water below, swimming through the surf and snowboarding at crazy speeds. He played soccer and rugby but was never really into these sports – team sports were not his thing, but he tried. He was a natural swimmer and joined a Swimming Club – up at 5 am!

At age 14, in February 2009, Rudi moved to Ladysmith on Vancouver Island with his family. He attended Ladysmith High School joining midway through Grade 9. Whatever jitters he may have had quickly disappeared as his cousins Ciaran and Conor also attended the school making such a sudden transition easier.

In 2013, after graduating from high school, Rudi moved to Victoria to look for work.  One day as Rudi and I were out we drove past the Victoria Regent Hotel on Wharf Street and he popped in to drop off his resume as I waited in the car. He did not come back for ages, when he did, he said they took him straight in for an interview as a concierge/front desk. We laughed, kept driving, and then his phone rang, “uhhuh, yep, sure, okay, thanks” – he turned to me and said, “I got the job” we both laughed as they wanted him to start ASAP!

Rudi worked at the hotel for six years, until the time he was accepted into the military. He was sworn in on his birthday, December 12, 2019 – and was flown out to Basic Training in St Jean de Richelieu, Quebec, January 4th, 2020.

Rudi was an incredible storyteller and would often have the table in stitches. It was hard to censor him and he did not appear to have an off switch. He was such a cheery, humorous guy. He tried many types of martial arts but always kept coming back to boxing; he was not shy about getting into the mix. He loved being in the military and even basic training, marching constantly, carrying 40 pounds, bivouacking in minus Celsius temperatures, doing guard duty in said cold temperatures, running obstacle courses – he appeared to love it all. He was always there for his friends, platoon, or anyone if they needed help. He was a kind, generous most gentle human being and thus winning the Comradeship award was no surprise nor when he joined Wounded Warriors and Big Brothers.

Rudi William Kraak died suddenly on Saturday night, July 18th, 2020. He was 25 years old and he will be remembered in our hearts and memories forever. Our wonderful smiling, cheeky, kind, generous, full of life young man. 

In lieu of flowers the family ask that you donate on behalf of Rudi to his two charities, Wounded Warriors and Big Brothers & Big Sisters.