Richard and Catherine Kranjec met as undergraduates attending Brooklyn College in the early 1960s. Richard Kranjec taught in the New York City public school system--specifically Midwood High School and Eastern District High School--as a member of the United Federation of Teachers. Catherine Kranjec substitute taught at Walt Whitman Junior High School before becoming the school librarian at I.S. 293 from 1969 to 1973. Their daughter, Ann Kranjec Fortescue, was born in 1962.
During 1968, Catherine and Ann moved temporarily to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, while Richard Kranjec remained in Brooklyn. He participated in the New York City teachers' strike of 1968, which made providing monetary support to his estranged partner and child difficult. Mrs. Kranjec returned to Brooklyn with Ann the following year.
In Brooklyn, Ann Kranjec Fortescue attended the Brooklyn College Early Childhood Center, P.S. 8, and P.S. 29. She moved with her mother to Milwaukee in 1973. As of July 2010, Ann Kranjec Fortescue is the Director of Education and Visitor Services at the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania.
From the guide to the Kranjec family papers, 1964-1976, (Brooklyn Historical Society)
