Family and friends are remembering Carl H. Kroll, noting that he was “one of the oldest and longest residents of West Seattle,” and sharing this recounting of his life:

Carl H. Kroll left us peacefully on April 19, a month short of his 107th birthday.

He was born in West Seattle to German immigrants in 1910, and started school at Gatewood Elementary. In 1920, the family went to visit relatives in Ahrensburg, Germany, and ended up staying for ten years when his father became involved helping Quakers feed the children after WWI.

In 1930, Carl moved back to the US, first to Philadelphia, where he got a job at a small valve manufacturing plant. After two years, he joined his father in the business of importing lily-of-the-valley flowers, which included numerous trips between the US and Germany.

In 1934, he married his childhood friend from Ahrensburg, Erna K. Dammann, and they moved back to West Seattle along with his parents, returning to the same block he had grown up on. Together they built their two houses side by side overlooking Puget Sound, where they happily spent the rest of their lives.

From 1938 until retiring in 1970, Carl worked for the Pomerelle Wine Company, which ultimately became part of Chateau Ste. Michelle. But, wishing for a more independent employment and to expose his two sons to a more rural life, he established the family raspberry farm in the late 1940s in Kitsap County. Until the early ‘70s, he and Erna, and often their sons, Carl G. and Detlev, spent most weekends in its operation.

Right up until the very end, Carl retained a sound and capable mind, and was fascinated to discuss such things as computers, cell phones, and driverless cars. He would often say, when we were stuck for an answer, “look it up on your phone.”

Carl was a dedicated and loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He was a wonderful role model and was a firm believer in staying active and engaged. After retirement, he kept busy with many projects, including teaching himself to weave, building playhouses for his grandchildren and numerous pieces of furniture, researching his family tree, and writing his history. Even as a centenarian, he remained active by continuing to make Christmas wreaths for sale in the West Seattle neighborhood and the raspberry-farm-now-turned-Christmas-tree-farm near Poulsbo.

He was loved by all family and friends who knew him and will be greatly missed. He was preceded in death by his loving wife Erna in 2007, and his four siblings, Irma, Meta, Edna, and Gilbert. He is survived by their two sons: Carl G. (Linda) and Detlev (Gale); four grandchildren: Carl B. (Vicky), William, Renate and Alden (Meghan); three great-grandchildren: Xabrina, Carl E. and Ronan, and numerous nieces and nephews. A private service is planned.

(WSB publishes West Seattle obituaries by request, free of charge. Please e-mail the text, and a photo if available, to editor@westseattleblog.com)