Dwight Droz

Born in 1912 of French-speaking Swiss parents, who left Switzerland at the beginning of the century, Dwight Droz grew up in the Depression years on parched farmland in southern Idaho, what are called "dry farms."

In the 1930's he was featured as "The Idaho Poet" on a state-wide network of radio stations. In 1938 he married Edith "Pauline" Schwartz, and during the Second World War they moved to Bremerton, Washington, where Mr. Droz eventually worked as an employment counselor for the state.

Upon retiring in the late 1960's, he and Pauline started a small five-acre farm in Kitsap County north of Bremerton, which became known throughout the area as "Scandia Patch." Droz's first book, One for the Weather, One for the Crow," tells the story of Scandia Patch Farms.

Annie Campbell

Annie Campbell graduated from North Kitsap High School (Poulsbo, Washington) in 1935. She attended Edison Technical School in Seattle, where she studied commercial art. Annie teamed up with good friend and neighbor Marge Schmuck decorating windows on many of the businesses in the Poulsbo area and promoting the Scandinavian theme among the local merchants. Annie visited Norway to study Rosemaling style.

The duo's murals and signs crisscross Poulsbo, including the Velkommen til Poulsbo sign and the original Scandia Patch sign on the Droz farm. "I never found a color I didn't like," says Annie-and her art shows it. What she does with color in her work is a wonder!

Geoffrey Carroll Kragen, Sr. (1912-2003)

Geoffrey Carroll Kragen, a second generation San Franciscan, died peacefully at 91 years old on Wednesday, 12 November 2003, in Silverdale, Washington. He went happily to be with his Lord and Savior, Yeshua Mashiach. He leaves behind his lovely bride of fifty-eight years, Treva Viola, three sons, Geoffrey C., Lance Paul, and K. David, a granddaughter, Colleen Beth, and a great grandson, Dante Shalom von Foerster, son of Colleen Beth and Eric Christian von Foerster.

Geoffrey's grandfather, Samuel Kragen (1833-1921), for reasons little known, left Krakow around 1843 at the age of nine. Having worked as a journeyman in Hamburg, Germany--possibly other places as well--Samuel learned the furniture making trade and finally earned enough money to book passage to America. He left Europe in 1856 or '57 at the age of twenty three, and came to the United States when Ellis Island was nothing more than a Civil War weapons depot. He was thus amidst the first great wave of American immigrants. While living in New York for three years he married Bertha Levy (1842-1901), originally from Hamburg, Germany. During the middle of the Civil War years Samuel traveled to San Francisco by way of the Isthmus of Panama, settling in San Francisco, the City by the Bay, in 1863.

Samuel's son, Ephraim Edward Kragen (1874-1963), was born in San Francisco just two years before the Centenary of the American Revolution. Ephraim Kragen married Josephine Gensler (188?-1947) in 1897 and had one daughter and three sons, the youngest being Geoffrey Carroll. This youngest son of the San Francisco Kragens was born the day of the sinking of the H.M.S. Titanic, 15 April 1912. In 1945, only months after the end of WWII, Geoffrey met and married Treva Viola Brown (1918- ) of Elkhart, Indiana.

A salesman, broker, appraiser, and finally president of Saxe Mortgage Company, in 1977 Geoffrey retired from Saxe Realty after 40 years of service in one of the most respected real estate companies in San Francisco. Geoffrey was a humble and honorable man, a devoted husband, and an exceptional father, grandfather and great grandfather. He was respected in business and in life by all who knew him.

Baruch hashem.

The funeral service was at Olympic Evangelical Free Church, Poulsbo, Washington, on Saturday, 15 November 2003, 11:00 AM. Geoffrey Carroll Kragen is buried at Silverdale Cemetery, Silverdale, Washington.

Geoffrey's book of poetry, The Doom of the Bridge--Selections from a San Francisco Poetry Journal(1928-1993), has been published posthumously through Scandia Patch Press. The last poem in the book was written to Treva on 12 December 1993.

White Roses

Winter has come and the chill of cold is here.

I picked our last two perfect small white roses.

Now the last two roses have opened and filled out,

Their petals have shed and now disappeared.

I grew them for my love, my special one,

The Lord's gift to me, the love I shall keep eternally.

(c) 2003. G.C.Kragen & K.D.Kragen.