Carl Krause Doerrmann

Carl Krause Doerrmann, formerly of King of Prussia, PA, passed away at his home in Maple Grove, MN, on September 7, surrounded by loved ones. He was 93. Carl was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, on August 23, 1927, the son of Charles John Doerrmann (1902-1978), a machinist, and Bertha Krause Doerrmann (1902-1988), a German immigrant who worked as a nanny and housewife. He was baptized at St. John’s Lutheran Church, and was raised in Reading, Tioga and Roxborough. Carl enlisted in the United States Navy in 1945 after graduating from Roxborough High School. As the son of a machinist, he was a natural-born perfectionist, and trained in the Navy as an aviation machinist’s mate, building parts for aircraft engines. That training provided a foundation for his work as a tool and die maker for the rest of his life. While attending Roxborough High School, he met Maud Elizabeth Griffith, the love of his life, and after Carl’s service in the Navy concluded, Carl proposed to Maud and they were married at Trinity German Lutheran Church at 16th & Tioga in 1950. In 1955, they moved to the farm fields and new developments of King of Prussia, and his sister and brother-in-law bought the house next door. Carl owned his own NAPA auto parts business, where he used his machinist skills to modify stock engine parts for customers. When Carl and Maud adopted 2 children to grow their family, Carl went to work for Atlas Aerospace, where he worked for 27 years before retiring in 1992. “Hard-headed” to the end (his words), Carl lived in the same house in King of Prussia until 2017, when he moved to be with family in Minnesota. After moving to King of Prussia in 1955, Carl and Maud worked with a group of residents in the growing town to form a new Lutheran congregation, and they became charter members of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church - the “church on the hill” - along with his sister and many others that Carl would consider his friends through the years. To help get the fledgling church started, Carl worked with his parents to acquire paraments and items from the old Trinity Church in Tioga that was disbanding. Maud sang in the choir, taught Sunday school and worked with the LCW (Lutheran Church Women) group, which later became Hearts & Hands, and Carl served on call committees, the property committee, and championed many, many projects, including designing and making custom lamps with the Good Shepherd cross, and the crosses that mark the doorways of the classrooms in the Education Building. Carl and Maud considered the church to be their second home, and Carl’s family is grateful for the support of the Good Shepherd community though his life transitions. In addition to his family, Carl loved the outdoors, fishing, and hunting, and remembers when it was cold enough to go ice fishing in Southeast Pennsylvania during winters years ago. Vacations mostly consisted of extended stays in Pocono-area lakefront cabins and fishing out of a small johnboat, which, when flipped over and filled with water, became a convenient swimming pool for his grandchildren when they came to visit in the summer months. Carl also enjoyed tinkering with his tools in the basement (or as he called it, “fixing things”), woodworking, and building and flying RC model planes from scratch, because no kit was good enough for him. Carl was preceded in death by his wife of 57 years, his parents, and his sister and brother-in-law Leona Kinzel (William “Jack”). He is survived by his son Craig (Rev. LisaMarie) of Maple Grove, MN, his daughter Barbra Weitzel of Wheat Ridge, CO, 8 grandchildren, and 6 great grandchildren. There will be a celebration of Carl’s life at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 132 E Valley Forge Road, King of Prussia, on Monday, September 14, 2020, at 10:30am, with a viewing immediately preceding beginning at 9:30am. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, please email or call the church office if you would like to attend (gskopstaff@verizon.net or 610-265-4545). The service will be followed by interment at Valley Forge Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Carl’s name to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, King of Prussia, PA, or to North Memorial Hospice, Robbinsdale, MN.