San Diego County
Biographies
CLARENCE A. STEVES
Clarence A. Steves is a prominent
representative of financial interests in San Diego County as president of the
First National Bank of Fall Brook. A
native son of California, he was born in Los Angeles, his parents being M. A.
and Abbie (Aldrich) Steves, the former now deceased, while the latter is a
resident of Claremont, this state.
Clarence A. Steves was associated
with the First National Bank of Oceanside, California, prior to July, 1926, at
which time he purchased and took over the business of the First National Bank
of Fall Brook, of which he has been the president and active manager throughout
the intervening period of seven years.
This thriving institution is one of the few independent banks in San
Diego County, serving Fall Brook and vicinity, and has been an important factor
in the development and welfare of the community. Aside from his banking activities Mr. Steves
owns and operates a fine lemon grove of seventeen acres in Fall Brook. He served as president of the Fall Brook
Citrus Association in 1931-2 and is a director of the San Diego County Fruit
Exchange. He is also a director of the
Oceanside Building & Loan Association of Oceanside, California, and
president of the West Fall Brook Grammar School. By hard work and close application, combined
with innate business ability, he has gained a gratifying measure of success for
one of his years and is deservedly popular and highly esteemed in the community
where he resides.
In 1922 Mr. Steves was united in
marriage to Miss Ruth Rorick, daughter of David Rorick, an honored pioneer and well known attorney of
Oceanside, California. Mrs. Steves is
prominent socially and belongs to the Woman’s Club and to the Eastern
Star. Mr. and Mrs. Steves are the
parents of a son, Clarence A. Steves, Jr., who is five years of age. Fraternally Mr. Steves is affiliated with the
Masonic lodge at Fall Brook and with the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks at Oceanside. He is fond of outdoor
life, finding pleasurable recreation in riding and hunting.
The following interesting article,
written by Mr. Steves, is copied from the Fall Brook Enterprise:
The community of Fall Brook,
situated among the foothills of northern San Diego County, easily reached by
way of excellent paved highways, offers to the home seeker a fine place in
which to live. A long period of years
has proven that from a climatic viewpoint San Diego County surpasses most
sections of the great commonwealth of California. The soil condition of Fall Brook’s rolling
hills is of the best and offers a most fitting home for the successful growing
of lemons, avocados, and Valencia oranges.
The Fall Brook Public Utility District has for the past ten years
supplied water to the town from wells.
This supply has been more or less limited and the uncertainty of
sufficient water has not been conductive to community growth. Just recently negotiations have been
consummated whereby the people of the district will be furnished a safe, certain,
and plentiful supply of domestic water.
This “new” water is to be pumped from the Santa Margarita River to the
district’s present reservoir and assures the community of an adequate water
supply that will do a great deal toward bringing home seekers to Fall Brook.
The people of Fall Brook are justly
proud of their school system. The Union
high school has a Class A rating with the State University and is regarded as
the most outstanding rural high school in all California. Transportation for both elementary and
secondary pupils is provided for those students living at a distance from the
schools.
The Baptist, Christian Science,
Church of Christ, Episcopal, Methodist, Seventh Day Adventists and Spiritualist
churches all hold services in the community.
Fraternal organizations are well represented by the Masonic, Odd Fellow,
Eastern Star, Rebekah lodges and chapters and
Theosophical Society. The Chamber of
Commerce, the University Women’s Club, the Woman’s Club, Garden Club, the
Kiwanis Club, the American Legion and Ladies Auxiliary, the Fraternal Club, and
the Farm Home Department are active in social, civic and farm enterprises. There is also an active W. C. T. U. in Fall
Brook.
The Southern California Telephone
and Telegraph Company, the San Diego Consolidated Gas & Electric Company,
the Santa Fe Railroad, the Coast Truck Line, and the Pacific Greyhound system
furnish Fall Brook’s telephone, electric power and transportation requirements.
From a recreational standpoint Fall
Brook is an ideal community and has many advantages. Just twenty miles from Fall Brook by paved
highway is Oceanside, where there is a splendid beach. To the lover of the mountainous country there
is Palomar Mountain, which is within the boundaries of the Cleveland National
Forest and is only twenty-five miles from Fall Brook. Several hot spring resorts are easily reached
by good roads within a two hours’ drive.
The present so-called depression
with all its unnecessary and superfluous conversation about “terrible times”
has left no blot on Fall Brook’s business section, and the situation looks fair
to good for the summer and fall of 1932.
This in itself speaks well for the community and its people.
New homes and new developments are
certain to come to Fall Brook with the coming of the Santa Margarita
water. The directors of the Fall Brook
Public Utility District have taken the right step, which is a step forward, and
which will be proved over a period of years to be the turning point in making
Fall Brook an even finer place in which to live.
Transcribed
by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. III, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 423-426, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles,
Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V.
Gerald Iaquinta.
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