Sylvia Grace (Dahlinger) Kraus, 83, of the St. Barnabas Retirement Apartments, Gibsonia, died Saturday at UPMC Passavant Hospital with family at her side.

Sylvia was the daughter of the late Helen and Alfred Dahlinger, and she was preceded in death by her beloved husband, G. Donald Kraus.

She was a member of Saint Richard Roman Catholic Church in Gibsonia and maintained a deep faith in God and the power of prayer throughout her life.

Sylvia was born in Pittsburgh and grew up mostly in West View. She graduated from Holy Ghost High School and Academy, and she took part in summer art classes at CMU, then Carnegie Tech, during her high school years. After graduation, she continued at CMU for more studies in design, piano and art, and then transferred to the Indiana State Teachers College, now Indiana (Pa.) University, graduating from there with a bachelor's of science in art education. Sylvia taught art in New Bethlehem, Pa., and the Pittsburgh Public Schools.

She met her husband Don in 1948, and they were engaged while he served in the Signal Corps in Germany during the Korean War. Upon his discharge in January 1954, they were married on Feb. 13, 1954, and raised their three children in Penn Hills. More recently, they lived in Hampton Township when they retired. Upon Don's death in 2009, Sylvia moved into the St. Barnabas Retirement Community in Gibsonia. Sylvia made many new friends at St. Barnabas and enjoyed weekly domino games and meals with her friends.

Sylvia had many interests, including a love of birds, dogs, horses, an appreciation of art and music and loved to read. She also loved singing in the church choir at St. Bartholomew's in Penn Hills, fresh flowers and good chocolates.

She is survived by her children, Mark (Kelly) Kraus of Redmond, Wash., Lynn (Jim) Beck of Butler and Karen (Gary) Grant of Florida. She is also survived by one grandson, Andrew, and one sister-in-law, several nieces and a nephew.

KRAUS — The family of Sylvia Grace (Dahlinger) Kraus, who died Saturday, Aug. 10, 2013, will receive friends from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the SPERLING FUNERAL HOME, 700 Blazier Drive, McCandless Township. A funeral Mass will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday in the St. Richard Church, 3841 Dickey Road, Gibsonia.In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. Barnabas Charitable Foundation, 5850 Meridian Road, Gibsonia, PA 15044, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, www.lls.org/wpa, or the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, 614 Dorseysville Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15238.