3 Generations of Kroetch/Steeples

Frank Kroetch was one of four siblings and was born to Dorothy Elaine (Ferguson) Kroetch and Hollis "Joe" Joseph Kroetch. As far as I know (grandson), Frank and his brother & two sisters had a bit of a rough childhood, having been separated into different groups living with various family members. He was one of the youngest to serve on the USS Killen for the U.S Navy in World War II. In fact, he lived his entire life thinking he was the youngest crew mate on the ship (he lied about his age to serve in WW2), but found out in the late 1990's at a Killen shipmates reunion in San Francisco that one lad had him beat by a handful of days. He married Marian "Joyce" Benning and had two children Kathy Pinna and Pamela Marks. He later married Carol (Antonsen) Kroetch and they raised John Kroetch. He was a very smart man (with an IQ that tested between 165 and 185) and good looking - charismatic! He was a life-long entrepreneur starting numerous businesses in various industries after attending the University of Washington and graduating from San Jose State University. He lived in both California (where his daughters were born) and Washington (where he was born and died). Frank was never baptized (as far as his child Kathy knows) and has no burial site. He was cremated and his ashes distributed between his wife and two daughters. He was quite a human being and we all miss him every day.

Kathy has lived in San Jose California for the majority of her life, having spent a few years in various places in Washington State. She was married once to Leo Pinna and they had one child Daniel Joseph Pinna. Kathy worked on and off at the Valley Medical Center, as did her sister Pam Marks and mother Marian Joyce Benning, but has spent the majority of her career as a spiritual counselor and adviser for over 40 years having assisted thousands of individuals in their quest for realization. Kathy is cofounder and Content & Community Manager of AncientFaces.

Nellie was my great-grandmother and she was a spitfire! A strong woman who made her way in the world working as a seamstress (on the Barbary Coast in San Francisco - sewing for the prostitutes and pimps!), a maid, a hotel manager, and finally the owner of a hotel in Seattle Washington. Her first marriage was to my great-grandfather, JB Kroetch. Rumor has it that she had a couple of other husbands (I know of a man whose surname was "McKenzie”) and then finally, the only great-grandfather I knew - David Shirley Abbott (who went by Shirley). They were married until she died. His profession was gambling - and he was very good at it. He did work in the Merchant Marines for several years but he said (and I believe him!) that was just so that he could win the wages of the other men on the trip home. He and Grandma Nell were a pair - she didn't allow drinking or smoking in her house and he adored her. She always wore dresses (usually satin, with several petticoats), even at home, and a fur (mink) coat when she went out. She made good bread but boy, could she over-cook a roast! Since she grew up on a farm in Kansas, she followed the customs she knew - dinner was at noon, the main meal of the day, and supper (in the evening) was a light meal. She sewed clothes for my sister and me until she died and made "smoking jackets" for her grandsons. (Following the Victorian fashion, she made them multi-colored and of silk - a patchwork construction. My Dad - her grandson - said wearing it outside when we lived on Bird Ave in San Jose CA, traffic would stop!) She also crocheted/tatted - she made a tablecloth for both of her grandsons and their wives. I still have both of them. She loved arts and crafts. Remember "Popsicle" lamps? She made those - and she used "paint by numbers" kits to make art for the walls. (This was in the 60s - Grandpa Shirley also brought home velvet paintings when he went on trips in the Merchants.) And she made leather purses for my sister and me - still have my purse too. You should have seen their house! It was very large for the time and it was filled with her finished projects and his memorabilia from his travels. Also, they kept a lot of cash (from his gambling - although he had stocks too) in the house, hidden in various places. So when they bought a car - always a Lincoln - the salesman would deliver the car to their house and they would give him cash for the full price. What a treat to have both of them as great-grandparents and how blessed were we to know them all of the time we were growing up.

If I had to describe Pam I'd say she is funny, artistic, and loves all aspects of family history and genealogy. Wife to Neil Marks, mother to Layne Jacobs, she has lived most of her life in the San Francisco Bay Area - particularly in Santa Cruz and Willow Glen. She has researched her family's genealogy (and many of her friends!) going back hundreds of years. Loves to travel to locations that have to do with her roots.