Kathrin Skikos, founder of Andy’s Produce Market, dies at 81

Kathrin Skikos, matriarch of the family that founded Andy’s Produce Market, presided over a business that rose from a humble open-air farmstand to become a full-service grocery store and west Sonoma County landmark.

Skikos, who lived to see three successive generations work at the market, including her great-grandchildren, died Sunday at her Santa Rosa home from complications from stroke. She was 81.

She and her husband, Andy Skikos, started their first farmstand in 1963 in Santa Rosa and at one point had five stores, including markets in Sebastopol, Healdsburg, Napa and Sonoma.

She brought her children to work after they got out of school, teaching them at an early age to package produce, bag groceries, stock the shelves or run the cash register.

“We all had to work. It was good that they taught us that. We all have a pretty good ethic,” said Kim Heing, one of the couple’s five children.

Two years ago, Kathrin Skikos recalled what it was like when she and her husband opened their market in 1964 along Highway 116 north of Sebastopol. Tourists would stop by on their way to the Russian River to stock up on fresh fruit and nuts for their summer sojourns.

“People would stop here on their way to the beach,” she said. “That was our main business.”

But these days both tourists and locals shop at the market for locally sourced fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy and eggs, grains and nut butters, frozen meats and poultry, cheese and wine. The front wall of the business is kept open to preserve the old-fashioned charm of the original farmstand, and now employs more than ?50 people.

“Our produce is probably the freshest you can get,” Heing said of the apples, lettuce, squash and other items.

“Mom was really proud of that. It’s an all-around great healthy market.”

Born and raised in Ogden, Utah, the former Kathrin Gridley was the youngest of four children whose father was a highway patrolman and their mother a homemaker.

Kathrin was 17 when she married Andy Skikos in 1953 and they began to raise a family in Ogden. But Andy, who had a variety of jobs, set off looking for a more stable place to live and work, and fell in love with Sonoma County.

“Andy said he found Eden,” she recalled in an interview two years ago. “So we got an old truck and packed it up and out we came.”

The couple opened their first farmstand on Sebastopol Road in Santa Rosa before opening a second farmstand in a former nursery in Sebastopol.

They expanded into the wholesale and trucking business.

“Dad would go to the San Francisco market early in the morning,” their daughter, Shelley Klucznik of Santa Rosa, recalled Thursday. “Mom worked in the store with us kids.”

The couple’s family grew to eventually include 19 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren.

Skikos concentrated more on her homemaker duties in later years, but always had a hand in decisions made regarding Andy’s Produce Market, where she retained the title of president.

She was an avid bridge player and a member of the Red Hat Society. She also loved to cook and was known for her desserts and lemon meringue pies.

“She was spunky, said what was on her mind,” Heing said. “She was very honest and had an infectious laugh.”

The Skikoses were involved in the formation of the Redwood Empire Food Bank. Kathrin also was one of the first donors to the Ceres Project, which nurtures teen chefs and delivers food to critically ill people.

In addition to her two daughters, she is survived by her husband, Andy, of Santa Rosa, and their son, Chris Skikos, of Sebastopol.

A celebration of life will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Saint Rose Parish Hall.

A funeral Mass is scheduled at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Resurrection Catholic Church, followed by a private burial.

In lieu of flowers, donations are suggested to the Redwood Empire Food Bank and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.