Tempe woman learns to triumph over tragedy

Gretta Krane thought her life was over when her husband committed suicide in front of her nine years ago.

The Tempe 47-year-old said she fell into the deepest, darkest well, and didn’t start climbing out until a friend helped her shift her perception.

“I needed to find a way out of the well. I wanted understanding,” she said. “I started actively searching and reaching out.”

Krane and her husband, Michael, were married for seven years and had twin boys, now 11 years old. The marriage was a happy one until the last six months, when Michael started having extreme mood swings.

Krane said she believes her husband suffered from undiagnosed depression.

The night of the suicide, Michael was drunk and started an argument, she said. She refused to argue with him. He got a gun that was kept loaded in the house in case someone broke in, and shot himself in front of her.

He was 33 years old.

Krane has learned to forgive her husband and to love him again. She talks about him often to her sons, and wants them to know what an amazing person he was, she said.

Getting out of that hole, however, was a process that included suicide support groups, reading an enormous amount of books and exploring every avenue to help her change. Two years ago she also started writing a book.

“It was very cathartic,” said Krane, who already is thinking about a second book. “It felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest, and once I understood his suicide was about him, I was able to breathe again.”

Along with her story of what happened that tragic night, she wrote about her journey of selfdiscovery and triumph and how she was able to get past that part of her life that left her a widow and a single mom.

Krane’s book, “From the Ashes Flies the Phoenix,” speaks to people who are trying to overcome adversity in their life, she said. The book came out in May and was self-published through Krane’s new company, Inspiring Enterprises.

Krane has devoted her life to spreading her message. She started speaking to groups last month and will speak to anybody who wants to hear her story.

“I hope to keep inspiring people,” she said. “We aren’t stuck. We only think we are. And when we change the way we think, we change our lives.”

More about it

Gretta Krane’s “From the Ashes Flies the Phoenix” is available at www.grettakrane.com and next month in stores. To have Krane speak to your group, call (602) 332-3622 or e-mail gretta@grettakrane.com.