Leslie Alan Kraning (“Alan”) died on March 30, with his wife Katie and son Matt beside him. He was 76 and had lived a good and full life.
Alan was born and raised in Colorado, the son of Jack and Barbara (Burnett) Kraning. Alan was a gifted math and science student, an Eagle Scout and a thoughtful friend who felt lucky to know so many wonderful classmates who stayed lifelong friends.
Bucking the usual westward migration, Alan went east to college to Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1965. It was his first plane ride. Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in five years in electrical engineering, Sigma Xi in research, it was a natural fit. It was there he also got hooked on sailing and was not deterred even when he fell overboard in the Charles River and had to get a tetanus shot.
Alan met Katie, the love of his life and another transplanted westerner, at a college mixer in 1967. After a stint in Philadelphia, they got married in 1976 and soon moved back up to where they met and truly belonged: New England and the Boston area. They bought their first and only house in 1984, in Marblehead and have lived there ever since. Son Matt came along in 1986; Alan literally had stars in his eyes at Matt’s birth. The house overflowed with love, friendly card games played with light-hearted trickery, and infectiously fun conversations, including atrocious pun wars that Alan — the supposedly quiet guy — almost always won with a combination of wit and shamelessness.
Professionally, Alan spent most of his career developing computer software for management of very large databases, with wide-ranging applications from railroads to economic forecasting to NASA space missions. He was a wonderful mentor and loved bringing out the talent of other “quiet” ones. He liked staying close to math and engineering throughout his entire career, directly working at what he called “the bleeding edge of technology.” He never met software he couldn’t bring to its knees to get it to do what it was supposed to.
When he retired, Alan and Katie increased their time scuba diving and traveling across the world. For over a decade, Alan sailed off the coast of Maine with a sailing club whose members became, and stayed, good friends. He was involved with high school and college alumni activities and, with Katie, was beginning to get involved with the Peabody Essex Museum. All this while, over the past 21 years, Alan was also undergoing multiple treatments for head, neck and lung cancers. One of his favorite sayings from his time at the YMCA’s LiveStrong program was “Every day wake up and tell yourself, ‘I can do this.'” And that’s just what he did.
Alan is survived by his wife of 47 years, Katie Huddleson; his son Matt Kraning and daughter-in-law Gabriella Angiolillo;his sister Janet Kreps of Eaton, Colorado; and nieces, nephews and in-laws spread across the country.
A celebration of life will be held later this summer in Maine. If you would like to be notified when details are final or share memories, stories and expressions of sympathy, please visit murphyfuneralhome.com/obituary/alan-kraning or call the Murphy Funeral Home at 978-744-0497.
