John Kroner

Best known for his strawberry fields

Faith, farming and clean living saw John Kroner into his 11th decade.

Bachelorhood may have helped.

The lifelong Upper Saddle River resident, remembered for his pick-your-own strawberry field, died Saturday at 103.

"You know what they say about married men living |longer? John disproved that," |Kay Yeomans said of her sturdy, productive friend and fellow Upper Saddle River Historical Society member.

John Kroner was born on the 65-acre farm that his parents, who had owned a bakery in New York City, bought for $3,800 in 1905.

He began working the farm at age 10 and came to run it. Kroner's Farm, off West Saddle River Road, supplied strawberries, apples, peaches, tomatoes and other crops to markets in Paterson. Mr. Kroner started selling off the land piecemeal for residential development after World War II. By the 1960s he had five 5 acres left and faced a decision: give up farming or hold his ground.

He chose the latter, and converted to pick-your-own strawberries with a six6-quart minimum.

"It's nothing pressing," Mr. Kroner, then 70, said of strawberry farming in a 1979 interview. "If you don't cultivate today, you can do it tomorrow. And it's |just one selling season, June, so for the rest of the year I can go see the Grand Canyon, walk |the streets of Laredo and see |how they grow wheat in the Dakotas."

Which is not to say strawberry farming was an easy life. The occasional May frost was the bane of Mr. Kroner's existence. But it was a lightning strike, not frost, that brought him distress in April 1974. The barn burned to the ground, destroying the tractor and fertilizer.

Mr. Kroner stopped farming in 1980 but remained in the farmhouse where he was born. Upper Saddle River paid homage to Kroner's Farm in 1994 when it rolled out a new borough seal. There's a basket of ripe strawberries in the upper-right-hand corner.

Luxury homes now stand on the land where hundreds used to fill their quart containers.

Along with farming, faith was central to Mr. Kroner's life. He attended Little Zion Methodist Church next to the family farm, served as a lay preacher and helped dig the basement and erect the steeple. He also taught adult Sunday school for the congregation, which now sits across the street and is called Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church.

"He taught the way he lived," said Kenneth Gabbert, a church member and former Upper Saddle River mayor. "He had a tremendous impact on hundreds and hundreds of people in this community."

Ken Kruppo said his Uncle John was an independent and down-to-earth man with healthy habits.

"He never smoked, he never drank and he never married," Kruppo said.

Mr. Kroner stayed active well into his 90s, even building a zigzag fence by the barn of the Hopper-Goetschius House Museum, which is managed by the historical society.

"John knew that was how the old-timers demarcated their land," the society's Yeomans said. "He was our memory."

Mr. Kroner, who entered a nursing home in Woodcliff Lake six years ago, is survived by a sister, Alice Kruppo of Ramsey, and nieces and nephews. Arrangements are by Van Emburgh-Sneider-Pernice Funeral Home, Ramsey.

On March 3, 2009, the day Mr. Kroner became a centenarian, Upper Saddle River placed a handsome plaque in the council chambers. It reads: "In honor of those unique pioneer citizens who have attained 100 years of age and who have resided in Upper Saddle River for over 35 years."

The old strawberry farmer's name remains the only one on the plaque.

Email: levin@northjersey.com