Hollis J. Kroetch & Connie Barrett

Hollis Joseph "Joe" Kroetch was born January 1, 1903, in Harrison, Idaho. Hollis was the son of John Baptist Henry Kroetch and Hellen Isabella ‘Nell’ Steeples. His parents met and eventually married at John’s mothers home in the little city of Plainville, Kansas. A day after their wedding, the couple moved to Nebraska for a short time, then settled in Harrison, Idaho where John helped establish a family lumber business. Hollis had one older sibling, Juanita Josephine Kroetch, born in 1901, also in Harrison, Idaho. Hollis’ parents divorced when he was 5, and Nell and her two children moved back to Plainville, Kansas where both children entered school while they lived with Nell’s mother and step-father. Nell’s mother, Mary Ann Morrison Steeples Burns, and her step-father, Sam Burns, ran a small hotel in Plainville. Living near the Plainville Catholic Church was Hollis’ paternal grandmother, Angeline Chartrand Kroetsch. During his school years, Hollis often appeared in the local newspaper, the Plainville Times: Plainville Times, June 15, 1911: "Childrens Day Exercises.....there were 7 in the exercises and little Hollis Kroetch the premier boy singer of the burg went to front in this as he always does in similar exercises..." July 20, 1911, Plainville Times: "...Mrs. Nell Kroetch and children Hollis and Juanita will leave for Portland, Oregon this evening..." Plainville Times Date: May 23, 1912 Hollis did a recitation for the Decoration Day Program sponsored by the GAR Plainville Times May 29, 1913 Decoration Day Program at M. E. Church....Recitation by Hollis Kroetch from "An American Exile..." Plainville Times, July 30, 1914 " Mrs. S.W. Burns and grandson Hollis left Tuesday night for Loveland, Colorado to visit her son George Burns and daughter Mrs. James Chamberlain and families. Mr. Burns will join them later." 1915 Kansas State Census Name: Halles Krotch (incorrect name....) Census Date: 1915 Residence County: Rooks Residence State: Kansas Locality: Plainville Birth Location: Idaho Family Number: 5 Line: 16 Roll: ks1915_208 Living in household: G.S. Burns 70 M.A. Burns 57 (grandmother) Krutch, Hollis '9' (age incorrect-should be 12 years old..Sam's age reported incorrectly also, as age 80, when it should be '70'). Hollis was attending school, per the census records. At the time the 1915 Kansas census was taken, Hollis' mother Nellie was living in Aberdeen, Grays Harbor Co., Wash and was married to a Chester McKenzie.... Per Plainville Times, September 9, 1915: "Mr. and Mrs. G.S. Burns, Charles Holland and Hollis Kroetch were expected to start for home in their ford Monday...." Per Plainville Times, July 6, 1916 "Hollis Kroetch has accepted a position at the Plainville Pharmacy..." Per Plainville Times, July 13, 1916 "Mrs. G.S. Burns and grandson Hollis Kroetch expect to leave next week for an extended visit at Garden City, Kansas, and Loveland, Colorado." Per Plainville Times, Nov. 23, 1916 "Reading : An Imaginary Invalid Hollis Kroetch, Sophomore" during a school program... Plainville Times Date: August 2, 1917 "Mrs. M.A. Burns, Mrs. H.A. Cool, Mrs. J.C. MacKenzie, and Hollis Kroetch spent Friday at the Ed Richardson home in Zurich." Plainville Times Date: August 9, 1917 "Mrs. J.C. Mackenzie, who has been visiting her parents, Mr. and Mrs. G.S. Burns and other relatives, left Tuesday night for her home in Portland, Oregon, Her son Hollis Kroetch, who has made his home with his grandparents for several years, accompanied her to make his home. They will visit relatives in Loveland, Colorado, on their way. Per Plainville Times, October 24, 1918: "Hollis J. Kroetch, USS Oregon, San Francisco, Calif care PM" Plainville Times, January 16, 1919 Hollis listed on the Honor Roll for Plainville High School, Plainville, KS...most likely for the 1918 school year In the 1930 census, he was listed as living in Neeson, Grays Harbor, WA, with his family: wife Dorothy and children Elaine, Fred, Frank, and Juanita. He said he was a "bucker(?)" in a logging camp.

Eileen Constance "Connie" (Tasker) Benning's father was William Tasker (1879 - 1933) and her mother was Mary Ann (Jones) Tasker (1882 - 1956). She had siblings Willie Tasker (1906 - 1932) and Ethel Allen (born 1909). My great-grandmother, or "GG" as I called her, was a strong proper Welsh woman. She outlived each of her 3 husbands and just could not take another spouse dying on her. She worked hard in her later years, moving to Seward Alaska as a nurse (she was in Seward during the great quake on March 27, 1964 and her family didn't know if she had survived for 3 days) and then returned to California's Bay Area, working at a hospital in Redwood City. GG was a proper Welsh woman until the day she died. From her granddaughter Kathy: Grandma was married 3 times - her first husband was our biological grandfather - and between 1946 and 1961, each of her 3 husbands died. Later in life, she told me that she had so much heartbreak during that time that she didn't want to marry again and have another husband die. But as she got older, she was lonely and wished that she had married again. Grandma was an active person and always up for an adventure. In her 50s, she moved to Seward Alaska (on her own, knowing no one) and was there for the big Alaska quake. She was working at Seward Hospital and had a funny story about the quake: When it begin, she stood in the doorway of a patient's room - an elderly man. After they both survived the quake, the elderly patient told everyone who would listen that she had "saved his life by holding up the room." After Seward, she moved to Valdez (also devastated by the quake) for a year. Grandma returned to the San Francisco Bay Area (where we were living) and worked at Sequoia Hospital. After she retired from Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City, California, she went to work as a companion for an elderly woman in Arizona. The woman was very wealthy, so they split the year between her home in Scottsdale and her other home in Michigan. But the work was physically difficult, so Grandma retired and returned to the Bay Area where she bought a small mobile home in Aptos, near Santa Cruz California. It had been a life-long dream of hers to live in Australia, but that dream was never realized. While she lived in Aptos, however, she became an active member of AA, a daily walker, a devoted yoga practitioner, and took lessons in the Welsh language. Even in her 70s, she couldn't sit still!