Hollis Frederick 'Fred' Kroetch, Washington 1928

Uncle Fred was an interesting person : born in Washington, he was "adopted" by his Aunt Wea in Whatcom county - his mother's eldest sister -after his mother died. When he was a teenager, and his father remarried, he showed up at his father's house in West Seattle. His stepmother didn't know that her husband had any children (he had 4 - and a few years ago - due to DNA - we found out that there was a 5th half-sibling, conceived between marriages). When Uncle Fred called up his younger brother (my father) and said "I have a good thing going here. Join me", my father showed up. That was too much for the step-mother, their father took them to sign up for the Navy (per their stepmother). It was WW2, their dad signed them up (they were young teens) and they joined and served as teens for most of WW2 After WW2, Dad got a college degree (he hadn't finished high school) and Uncle Fred got a Masters in Math. He spent most of his career (I believe) working in the aeronautics industry. His sister (my aunt) used to joke that she was the only one without a degree or more. That was quite an accomplishment in the 40's and 50's. Uncle Fred loved to joke around. For instance, he said "how am I" when he greeted you. Truthfully, I didn't like that - I was too serious.