Reporter Central Kitsap
Keep it classy Expanded classifieds inside Kitsap Week
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2013 | Vol. 29, No. 6 | WWW.CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.COM | 50¢
Captain Joseph House a labor of love and life
Editor’s Note: In honor of Veterans Day, we are publishing this article that originally ran in Veterans Life last summer.
Dannie Oliveaux /Staff photo
Donna Stein and Sharon Veatch count ballots Tuesday.
BY WES MORROW
Schulze, Richards sweep opponents in CK school races
CORRESPONDENT
Capt. Joseph William Schultz often had conversations with his mother, Betsy, during his time in the service. The topic of those conversations often focused on what each of them should do if the other were to die. Betsy — like far too many mothers with children in the military — had to live with the reality that her son could precede her in death. Joseph was a Green Beret. He was from Port Angeles, where his mother ran a bed and breakfast. In 2011, he deployed to Afghanistan. It was there, in Wardak Province, that Joseph died. His vehicle struck an improvised explosive device on May 29, 2011 — one day before Memorial Day. He was 36. That was more than two years ago. The news of her son’s death quickly reached Betsy. In that moment her Memorial Day changed forever. The loss of her only son was a life-changing blow — but Betsy, like her son, wasn’t one to surrender. Betsy recalls the conversations she and Joseph had about death. She knows what he would have said if he could have spoken to her after his death. “I didn’t die so that you would choose not to live, not to carry on — but to move forward and move on,” she says he would tell her. Betsy took that thought with her following Joseph’s death. Shortly thereafter, she met the families of the
BY SERAINE PAGE SPAGE@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
Contributed photo
A tudor home in Port Angeles that was once a bed and breakfast is being remodeled to become the Captain Joseph House, a place for military families who have lost loved ones. other soldiers who were killed in the same blast as her son. “I felt really strongly that I had something to offer. I had an opportunity to keep giving back,” she said. Betsy had access to two important things: a bed and breakfast and a back-
ground in social work. She took those two disparate things and combined them to bring her vision to life. That vision manifested as the nonprofit Captain Joseph House Foundation. Betsy’s former bed and breakfast became the Captain Joseph House.
Military families who have lost loved ones in the line of duty will be able to travel to the Port Angeles home to exhale and relax. Families will come in on a Sunday and they’ll spend the next five nights at the SEE JOSEPH, A13
Voters in the Central Kitsap School District have confirmed that they want Jeanie Schulze to serve as the district four representative on the CK school board. She has been serving on the board since May, when she was appointed to a term of a school board member who moved from the area. The area four director position serves Clear Creek Elementary, Emera ld Heights Elementary, Silver Ridge Elementary and Ridgetop Junior High. “I’m looking forward to working alongside our other board members,” she said of being elected. “I think what I’m really looking forward to is working as a team to help the district stay focused on student achievement and making sure out budget is aligned with our needs.” Schulze said she’s been working hard over the last few months since she was appointed to her position prior to the election, and plans to “keep doing her homework” for the district.
Schulze swept her opponent, Victoria T. Crescenzi, with 59.7 percent of the vote in returns made public Tuesday by the Kitsap County Auditors office. Crescenzi took 39.3 percent of the vote. Schulze’s prior experience includes working as the community relations specialist for the Central Kitsap School District for 17 years. She also served as the Silverdale Chamber of Commerce president for two years, and acted as the chair of the Kitsap Adult Center for Education/Literary Council for three years. “My vision is a strong educational program focused on improving student achievement for all of our community’s children,” Schulze previously said about her outlook for the CK educational community. Crescenzi, a local doctor, is current chair of the Graduate Medical Education Committee for resident education at Navy Hospital Bremerton. She was appointed by Gov. Chris Gregoire to serve on the State Interagency Coordinating Council SEE ELECTION, A13