Rest In Peace

Haruko Buchholz (Left) and Jolly Krautmann (Right)

I learned a couple of days ago of the passing of Jolly Krautmann, co-owner of Heritage Seedlings of Oregon, USA along with her husband Mark. She bravely staved off the cancer which attacked her for a number of years...until July 21, 2024, and hopefully she can now rest in peace.

The Krautmann's company began at about the same time (in the early 1980s) as did my business. Indeed, we initially met as we were both employed at the Dutchman's nursery in west Portland. We had both begun our companies, but still required a few years of steady income to feed our families.

As start-up nurseries, Heritage Seedlings and Buchholz Nursery flubbed-up a lot with poor decisions and missed opportunities, plus dealing with the vicissitudes of nature, but somehow we shouldered on.

Jolly cornered me alone one time, about a year into our careers, and with a low voice and a seriously grave face she asked if I thought Mark was able to own a nursery, “Does he know what he's doing?” I smiled and replied, “Jolly, none of us really know what we're doing.” But we shared a willingness to work hard (obsessively so), and that coupled with a fascination for woody trees and shrubs, we are now proud to have made the earth a more interesting and vital space.

The last time I saw Jolly was about two years ago. Haruko and I were led around the Heritage Seedling's Santiam location by Mark and Jolly. We chatted about people and plants, like Mark and I always do. We passed a seedling bed of oaks or hornbeams or something, where the end of the bed had recently been harvested, but there were a hundred or so trees tossed sideways – helter-skelter – with the roots exposed and drying out. Jolly didn't like the looks of it and quizzed Mark, “What are these doing like this?” Mark answered that they were the runts and wanted to leave it at that. But Jolly thought they looked ok – so did I – and she pestered him for further explanation. Mark sighed and said he had plenty of #1 plants, and the company didn't have time to deal with the second grade. That finally satisfied Jolly and we moved along. That wasn't the only time that I witnessed Jolly's sharp intellect and persistence, and I reflected that it was a key element in the success of Heritage Seedlings. Maybe Jolly wasn't the avid plantsperson as was Mark, but she kept those around her on their toes, and the combination of the Krautmann's different skills and personalities formed a strong team.

I will hug my wife extra long tonight when I give her the sad news.

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I'll take the liberty to repost Mark's letter to his friends.

Dear Friends,

Many of you know of Jolly's recent years' struggle with the debilitations of her brain tumor. You may also recall from her lung cancer primary tumor removed ten years ago, she survived without apparent recurrence until the cancer migrated to her head and caused her bloody stroke in Dec. of '21.

She died at home on the farm on July 21st in the company of all her family after several months of gradually losing her sensory capacities. Thankfully, she never lost her sharp wits. Courageous to the end, she never whimpered a single word of regret, anger, fear, or impatience. There were plenty of opportunities. Brain cancer can be a particularly fearsome disease, but oddly, she had NO body pains or headaches. I have been more or less her constant caretaker over these recent 2.5 years, an honor for me to be by her side and help us to both keep up with doc appointments, our chins up, travelling, trips with grandkids and just living life as full as possible until just the past few debilitating weeks. Her doctors and PA's were astonished she lived for over 2 years after diagnosis when most BC patients survive just a few months after diagnosis.

Diminutive in stature but not in determination, she was an example to us all of what tough looks like, feels like, what we can accomplish if we dream big.

So, as we continue forward with this large gap in not seeing Jolly among us daily, talking with us about all life's gifts and frustrations, our lives feel diminished by this mighty but small woman. She made us all better people by her example of just showing up, doing the right thing every day, and most of all, forgiving Mark his seed lab in her kitchen and all his crazy plant ideas during more than 42 years with the nursery. She was faithfully optimistic that whatever we attempted together we'd succeed with and take pride in. Family, work, adventure, lending others a hand up...all of it came true. She lives on in all our hearts and the genes of our two fine kids and 5 grandchildren. Mark's and her trees grace work places and landscapes all across America, propagated and grown on in the millions by all our dear friends and customers in wholesale nurseries and garden centers.

You share in that legacy, that action of making the earth a bit greener, cooler, and pleasant than it might be otherwise, absent her dedication – and your own.

Please join me in offering a prayer of thanksgiving, sharing a funny memory, or offering a kind word to someone who can use the uplift. Lord knows the world needs more Jolly's nowadays.

I just thank God I got almost 50 years with our cute little Chinese girl. It was love at first sight for each of us. We had a long, intimate, exciting marriage and business experience. Hard for me to accept she does not now share coffee & amaretto with me every morning now, but I'm not for a moment complaining about the gift of this amazing woman in my life, the mother of our children, my companion in most of life's adventures with me.

Join me in celebrating her, with THANKS for all your friendship and kindness to this American immigrant wonder woman!

Respectfully,

M