Our Mission
The Joe and Barb Krier Foundation strives to improve the lives of the Catholic youth in Indy. We provide financial assistance to students who would otherwise be unable to attend Catholic Schools. One way we accomplish this is through the Joe and Barb Krier Memorial Grant. Read more about the grant here.
About Joe and Barb Krier
Joe and Barb were fun-loving, hard-working, generous people who lived each day to the fullest. Joe and Barb Krier kindly and humbly gave back to this wonderful world, touching one person at a time and truly making a difference. They were devoted to each other, their kids, their parents, brothers and sisters and their life-long friends.
Barb was the fourth of six kids born to Lynn and Jim Redding. During her childhood, Barb enjoyed sailing with her dad and baking and gardening with her mom. She treasured the summers that they spent together up at Lake Geneva in a little cottage that her grandfather built himself. Barb’s creativity, kindness, friendliness, sense of adventure and optimism all were nurtured in the loving Redding home. Barb went to St. Matthew for grade school. Her classmates remember her as being the girl who was friends with everyone and always put others first. During high school, Barb developed her passion for art and design and she was the only girl in the mechanical drawing and drafting classes at Chatard. She loved creating and she often worked on her miniature doll house, hand-crafting all the furniture, rugs, drapes, and other accessories.
Joe was one of eleven kids growing up in the Krier household. He was right in the middle with 5 older and 5 younger siblings. Bill and Betty Krier showered their kids with love, a sense of tradition and were wonderful examples of service to the community and the church. Joe’s upbringing and foundation in the Krier home taught him determination, a strong work ethic, selfless giving and a positive, fun-loving attitude. Joe attended Christ the King and his classmates remember him being his own person even back then. When everyone else would walk to school in the winter with their boots on, Joe would lace up his skates and skate on in! Joe was very determined to graduate from Chatard, even though the $200 per year tuition was very steep! He worked as a student janitor after school to help pay tuition and of course struck up a friendship with Rufus the school janitor. Their friendship became a little rocky when Joe “borrowed” Rufus’s VW bug, crammed 15 kids into it, and took them for a ride around the parking lot. Joe was also determined to learn how to play the guitar, sitting in his room for hours while he taught himself chords on his little black K guitar.
Joe and Barb met as teenagers in the cafeteria of Bishop Chatard High School…the rest, as they say, is history. They got married in 1978 and shortly after started a family. Joe and Barb welcomed three children into their loving home: Theresa, Drew, and Matt. Barb and Joe were passionate people, but the thing that they were most passionate about was their vocation as parents. They took the job seriously and poured themselves into it. They were a great team and each other’s biggest fan. Barb loved to tell the story about Joe coaching the boys’ little league teams. While the opposing coach was figuring out the lineup, Joe was setting up the griddle to flip pancakes for his team. Barb was always the one to offer to help whether it was Theresa’s summer camp or football victory vittles or post season wrestling parties…wherever she was needed and whatever she could do to make a difference.
Joe and Barb worked very hard in their professional careers. There were many sacrifices and some setbacks in the early years, but the determination, passion, work ethic, and enthusiasm that they had honed through the years helped them to persevere and succeed. Barb was a very talented and thoughtful kitchen designer who didn’t just design a room for a family but created a space where they could come together as a family in their own unique way. Joe was an equally talented car salesman and businessman who wasn’t afraid to take a risk. He always treated everyone with respect and honesty. Barb and Joe were very trusting, always seeing the best in people.
Joe and Barb were both lifelong volunteers. Joe was a weekly server at the Cathedral Soup Kitchen and a member of Angel Flight, a national organization of pilots who use their private planes to transport patients to hospitals for medical treatment. Barb delivered communion to nursing home residents and served as Confirmation sponsor. Together they worked with engaged couples at St. Pius, helping to prepare them for the challenges of married life.
Barb and Joe passed away on Sunday, January 1, 2006, in Dawson, Georgia. They are survived by their children, Theresa, Andrew, and Matthew. Since their death, the family has grown to include: son-in-law, Matt; daughters-in-law, Brittany and Molly; and three grandchildren, Izzie, Zoey, and Hunter.
Joe and Barb will be remembered for what they gave. In their careers, they gave with all their energy and heart to do what they loved. They gave their community compassion, time, and commitment. They gave all who knew them the inspiration to live with kindness and enthusiasm. Joe and Barb gave their children the assurance of their unconditional love and the tools to truly love others. Everyone who met them came away a better person because of their commitment to give of themselves and share their many blessings. Joe and Barb’s sense of adventure, strong work ethic and zest for life was an inspiration to all they encountered.
More information
To read the passage that was written and presented when Joe and Barb Krier were posthumously awarded the Bishop Chatard Achievement Award in 2006, click here.
Link to Criterion article written by John Shaughnessy.