Karna Hoaglund: Croton Falls artist, educator

North Salem grad/Croton Falls resident Karna Hoaglund: Karna Lynne Hoaglund, Mahopac, NY 12/30/1941-11/29/2022

Born Karna Lynne Bjorklund on Dec 30, 1941 to Katherine and Lorence Bjorklund in Croton Falls, NY. 

With both parents being artists, she grew up curious and creative. An animal lover from a young age, she would have a wide variety of pets throughout her life from dogs and cats to birds and monkeys. If it could be tamed, she probably had it as a pet. A well rounded scholar-athlete, she played a variety of sports growing up, and continued to play basketball and volleyball through her senior year, where she was also named Valedictorian of Purdy's Central High School in 1959. 

She was a published author at a young age, writing a book in her early 20’s on Native Americans entitled The Indians of Northeastern America, which was illustrated by her father. She went on to study at Colby College in Maine before transferring to New Paltz College to earn her teaching degree. This is where she met Robert Hoaglund, whom she would spend the rest of her life with as husband and wife, best friends, and parents of three children: Kim Breidenbach (Tommy), Kristin Jandzinski (John), and Erik (Amy). In addition to her children, she is survived by seven grandchildren: Keith, Summer, Karna, Maya, Grady, Camden, and Thatcher. 

Professionally, she taught a number of different elementary school grades before settling in as a Kindergarten teacher to hundreds of fortunate Yorktown students for the majority of her 30 year teaching career. In her free time, she loved to travel, spend time at her summer house in Maine, collect shells at her favorite beach in South Carolina, tend to her garden and plants, read, and enjoy life with friends and family. 

In lieu of flowers, please honor her memory by enjoying your family, friends, and favorite things as Karna loved to do before she was afflicted with the cruel repercussions of an Alzheimer’s/ Dementia diagnosis.