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E. MARGARET “PEGGY” ROGERS-KROTZ
4110 Wedgemere Dr.
Tampa, Florida 33610
(813) 623-2458
I was raised in Maywood, Illinois, but in June of 1948 my family moved to Fox Lake. There, I joined the rest of our class as a freshman at GCHS. After graduation, my first job was as a Telephone Operator in Richmond, Illinois. I later went to work in downtown Chicago at the Florsheim Shoe Co. Office. Sue Floto and I worked there together in the same department as Comptometer Operators. We were commuting everyday on the train from Fox Lake to Union Station in Chicago, then walked several blocks to the office. After a few months I attended the IBM School on Michigan Ave. in Chicago and as a result was hired by Kemper Insurance Co., located in the Civic Opera Building on Wacker Drive. After that I went to work for the Chicago, Milwaukee Railroad in the Payroll Dept. of their Chicago office.
On Memorial Day in 1953, I met Harvey R. Krotz at Cedar Lake Park in Lake Villa where I had gone with high school friends Ann Erickson, Jean Robin and a few others for a beach outing. I married Harvey the following 15th of February and moved back to Maywood for three years. As the family grew, we built our first home in Addison, Illinois. We raised a family of six boys and one girl. (She was adopted.) Their names and ages are: Gary age 47, Harvey 46, Michael 44, Steven 42, Matthew 40, Bradley 38 and Kimberlee 38. We now have 13 grandkids¾soon to be 14¾as of September 2002. Their names and ages are: Amanda 27, Justin 25, Ryan 25, Brandon 14, Jessica 13, Evan 10, Dillon 9, Joseph 6, Rebecca 6, Jacob 4, Racheal 4, Lauren 10, Shayna 6 weeks, and in September 2002 we are expecting Matthew, Jr.
While living in Addison, I worked at the Ray Graham Association for the Handicapped. In 1975 we moved the family to Elmhurst and lived there 5 years. In February of 1980, Harvey and I divorced after 25 years of marriage. In 1981 I sold our home and took one adult son and the two youngest teenagers and we moved to a mobile home park in Tampa, Florida. The two teens did not stay in Florida, returning in a few years to Elmhurst. The adult son, Harvey, Jr., did stay. In 1994 I moved the mobile home to its present property in Tampa.
My first job in Florida was as an Office Manager at an RV Travel Resort in Thonotosassa, on the outskirts of Tampa. In 1987 I attended Philadelphia Technical Institute in Tampa and graduated as a Medical Assistant. I then worked at an Assisted Living Facility, a part of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa. In 1989 I was hired by the Dept. of Social Services, Hillsborough Co., Florida, as a Social Service Specialist and Community Worker. I stayed there for ten years. My job was to organize Health Fairs for low-income citizens using Public Health Department facilities. I also was overseeing USDA Commodity Sites. I helped to open a new resource center funded by a grant by the US Dept. of Justice for the purpose of helping to reduce crime in a depressed area of Tampa. After attending training at the University of South Florida, I was appointed to the Displaced Homemakers Advisory Board at Erwin Vocational Training School in Tampa. I served in this capacity for the year 1996. Due to personal health problems (sciatic nerve) I retired in 1999.
I am presently living on the “Sun Coast” (west side) of Florida, in Tampa. After going through Physical Therapy I am once again active and enjoy dancing, swimming, table pool, and time with friends and family. In my retirement I attend a Recreation Center in Temple Terrace Florida and have joined in some of the outings.
