Doddridge County Roots

A West Virginia Genealogy

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1856 - 1911 (55 years)

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Generation: 1

Leopold KRAMER was born 10 Jul 1856, Bessenyo, Hungary; died 16 Oct 1911, Vienna, Austria; was buried , Vienna Cemetery (Jewish Section), Vienna, Austria.

Leopold married Berta KOHN Vienna, Austria. Berta was born 14 Jun 1845, Budapest, Hungary; died 2 Feb 1887, Vienna, Austria; was buried , Vienna Cemetery (Jewish Section), Vienna, Austria. [Group Sheet]

Children:

2. Arpad KRAMER was born 9 Aug 1889, Vienna, Austria; died 1 Aug 1926, Vienna, Austria; was buried , Vienna Cemetery (Jewish Section), Vienna, Austria.

Generation: 2

Arpad KRAMER

(1.Leopold¹) was born 9 Aug 1889, Vienna, Austria; died 1 Aug 1926, Vienna, Austria; was buried , Vienna Cemetery (Jewish Section), Vienna, Austria.

Arpad married Marianne "Mitzi" STEMPEL 13 Dec 1913, Vienna, Austria. Marianne (daughter of Louis STEMPEL and Sarah "Sali" KLEINBERG) was born 29 Dec 1890, Vienna, Austria; died 7 Sep 1930, Vienna, Austria. [Group Sheet]

Children:

3. Fritz Leopold Louis Max KRAMER was born 18 Mar 1918, Vienna, Austria; died 14 Jan 2013, Portland, Multnomah Co, OR.

Generation: 3

Fritz Leopold Louis Max KRAMER

(2.Arpad², 1.Leopold¹) was born 18 Mar 1918, Vienna, Austria; died 14 Jan 2013, Portland, Multnomah Co, OR.

Other Events:

Education: Schwartzwald School, Vienna Handelsakademie
Education: University of Washington, University of California at Berkeley
Occupation: geography professor
Residence: UNTIL 1939, Austria
Residence: From 1940 to 1942, Mt. Mansfield, Lamoille Co, VT
Residence: 1942, Lamoille Co, VT
Military: From 1 Jun 1942 to Nov 1945; Medic, US Army, 10th Mountain Div, WW II, Europe, Bronze Star
Residence: From 1946 to 1950, Seattle, King Co, WA
Residence: From 1953 to 1955, Meadville, Crawford Co, PA
Residence: From 1956 to 1960, Reno, Washoe Co, NV
Residence: From 1960 to 1962, Eugene, Lane Co, OR
Residence: From 1962 to 1964, Colorado Springs, El Paso Co, CO
Residence: From 1964 to 1966, Sacramento, Sacramento Co, CA
Residence: From 1966, Portland, Multnomah Co, OR

Notes:

Orphaned by age 12 and still residing in his native Austria when the Nazis overran his country in 1938, Fritz L. Kramer came to the United States in late 1939. (Earlier in the year, his passage on the ship Europa from Bremen, Germany, arriving in New York on April 7 1939, was canceled according to the original ship's manifest.) He worked on a farm in New Jersey the first summer. In the winter, he taught skiing at Vermont's highest mountain, Mount Mansfield, near Stowe. He was, in fact, the first paid patrolman of the Mt. Mansfield Ski Patrol, which was the nation's first ski patrol. His colleague there was Charles Minot "Minnie" Dole, who not only formed the National Ski Patrol, but also conceived the 10th Mountain Division of World War II fame, in which Fritz was an early enlistee. Fritz spent the winter of 1940-41 living in the Stone Hut on Mt. Mansfield's summit, making occasional trips to the base lodge for provisions and a hot shower. He gained notoriety by being the first patrolman to lead a toboggan down the Nose Dive Trail single-handedly. He is a member of the Vermont Ski Museum Hall of Fame. In an article in "Mt. Mansfield Skiing," April 6, 1942, the author observes: "How Fritz Kramer, anchorman for the Mt. Mansfield patrol, manages to keep so good natured is amazing. Despite having to lug around toboggans four times his size, and skiers four times his weight, he continues to remind us of a benevolent fieldmouse -- until he is called to help a hysteric woman. Hysteric women are an anathema to Fritz. He doesn't like them. But they like him."
https://www.vtcng.com/stowe_reporter/on_snow/a-stowe-pioneer-remembered-fritz-l-kramer-1918-2013/article_75b34e26-7149-11e2-9e76-001a4bcf887a.html
https://www.mychamplainvalley.com/at-this-place-in-history/this-place-in-history-mt-mansfield-ski-patrol/
https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2016/02/26/stowe-mount-mansfield-ski-patrol-vermont-skiing/80879510/

Drafted into the Army in 1942, he was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington. He was a skiing and mountain-climbing instructor with the 87th Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division at several locations, including Camp Hale, Colorado and Seneca Rocks in Pendleton County, West Virginia. In 1944 he was transferred to the division's medical unit and was sent to Italy. He was instrumental in his unit's capture of 3700-foot Monte Belvedere in the Apennine Mountains in a two-sided assault. During the Po River campaign, he received the Bronze Star for the rescue of an officer who was wounded on a patrol about two miles behind enemy lines. In November 1945, he was discharged in Vienna, remaining there to work with Army intelligence doing de-nazification work. On 22 Oct 2023, President Biden signed a proclamation creating the Camp Hale - Continental Divide National Monument in Colorado. A White House fact sheet stated "The rugged landscape of Camp Hale - Continental Divide serves as a testament to a pivotal moment in Americas military history, as these peaks and valleys forged the elite soldiers of the famed 10th Mountain Division -- the Armys first and only mountain infantry division -- that helped liberate Europe in World War II." Fritz Kramer was one of those elite soldiers.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/visit/camp-hale-continental-divide-national-monument
https://youtu.be/V_qnR9avkGc
https://youtu.be/Z_TNXvfCpoM
https://archives.denverlibrary.org/repositories/3/resources/4362

After returning to the United States in July 1946, he enrolled at Seattle College and began studies in business and foreign trade. He later transferred to the University of Washington, where he was awarded an A.B. degree in 1950. Doing his post-graduate work at the University of California at Berkeley, he was awarded a Master's degree in geography in 1953, and a Ph.D. in historical and cultural cartography in 1957. Academic positions he held during his career included the following: Allegheny College (Meadville Pa) 1953-1955; Univ. of Nevada 1956-1960; Univ. of Oregon 1960-1962; Colorado College 1962-1964; Sacramento State College 1964-1966. He went on to be a renowned professor of geography at Portland State University in Oregon, remaining there from 1966 until retirement. In conjunction with his position there, he also served several years in Europe as Director, European Studies Institute, Zagreb, Yugoslavia 1972; and as Resident Director, Oregon Study Center in Germany, Stuttgart and Tubingen, 1977-1980, 1982-1983. He was named Professor Emeritus of Geography at Portland State University in December 1983.

http://stowe.com/upload/photos/Ski_Patrol_Article.pdf
http://www.skimuseum.org/page.php?cid=doc145
http://oldweb.geog.berkeley.edu/PeopleHistory/History/60YrsGeog/Kramer,%20Fritz.html

Military:
As part of the 10th Mountain Infantry Division, skiier Fritz L. Kramer took part in the capture of Monte Belvedere in the Apennine Mountains of Italy.
[Newspaper article, "Seattle Daily Times," Feb 26 1945]

Fritz married Mary Tostevin DEMING 15 Jun 1949, Seattle, King Co, WA. Mary (daughter of Richard DEMING and Gladys Byrd TOSTEVIN) was born 18 Aug 1923, New York; died 11 Dec 2007, Clackamas Co, OR. [Group Sheet]

Children: