Los Angeles County
Biographies
ROBY
T. ELWOOD
Alhambra
had less than five hundred residents in 1886 when Roby T. Elwood, aged, two,
arrived in the town that was to be her home.
In her seventy-six years of residence there she has witnessed the town’s
growth into a prosperous, modern city of fifty-six thousand. From the horse and buggy days to high powered
automobile, to jet transports, and even to a preliminary conquest of space may
seem to be too much to accept in one lifetime, but Miss Elwood is not one to live
nostalgically in the past and ignore the present. She is proud of both Alhambra’s background
and of the far-sighted people who made its growth possible. As an educator, and principal of Garfield
School from 1921 to 1950, Miss Elwood joined the ranks of those far-sighted
people, yet she delights in making the early days live for those who did not
see them first-hand, and in 1955 contributed an article, “Pasadena in the Gay
Nineties,” to the Pasadena Community Book.
Born
in Cortland, Nebraska, on June 27, 1884, Miss Elwood is the daughter of one of
Alhambra’s first doctors, Frank B. Elwood, M.D., who practiced in Alhambra from
1886 until his death in 1919, at the same time owning and operating the town’s
first drugstore, and serving as postmaster in the early 1900’s. He was one of the group
of men who were active in the incorporation of Alhambra. Doctor Elwood was born in Watertown, New
York, in 1857, the descendant of colonial settlers; later his family moved to
Nebraska. His father, George William
Elwood was a pioneer Methodist minister in Long Beach, California. Roby Elwood’s mother was Nellie W. (Drake)
Elwood who was born in Pennsylvania and whose family has been traced back to
Sir Francis Drake. Miss Elwood has in
her possession letters which were written by her grandfather Drake of
Pennsylvania while he was in the Union Army during the Civil War. Miss Elwood’s only sister, Blanche (Elwood)
Nix, lives in San Gabriel.
Roby
T. Elwood attended elementary school in Alhambra and graduated from Alhambra
High School. She was graduated from
Stanford University in 1907 and spent six months in teacher training at Los
Angeles Normal College. In 1908 she
taught in a country school, but the next year returned to Alhambra to teach in
all five grades of the one-teacher Ramona School located upstairs in a building
at Ramona and Garfield. In 1910 she went
into the new Ramona School, built that year in Ramona Park, and remained there
until 1917, at which time she went to Garfield School where she was to remain
for the next thirty-three years, first as seventh and eighth grade teacher, and
as principal from 1921 until her retirement in 1950; from 1939 until 1949 she
was principal of both Garfield and Central Elementary Schools. A chronicle of events in Miss Elwood’s
teaching career is also a record of events that have become history: after the 1933 earthquake she taught in a
tent for a year; during World War II she was an inspiration in the War Savings
Bonds and Stamps drives in her school.
In recognition of her three decades of dedicated service, a permanent
plaque inscribed with her name has been placed in the corridor of Garfield
School.
The
Parent-Teachers’ Association of Central School presented Miss Elwood with a
national life membership to the association and she is also the recipient of a
life membership in the California Congress of Parents and Teachers.
Far
from being really retired Miss Elwood is an active member of the First Baptist
Church of Alhambra, participating in the Women’s Society, and is a former
member of its Historical Committee. In
1887 her mother became a charter member of the church; Miss Elwood is the only
one of the direct descendants of the ten charter members who is still active in
the church. Miss Elwood is affiliated
with the Alhambra-San Gabriel Chapter of the Daughters of the American
Revolution, is a member of the Foothill Section of the California Retired
Teachers’ Association, and belongs to the Alhambra Round Table Club. She is a former member of the Alhambra
Professional Women’s Club.
Traveling
and amateur photography are favorite hobbies of this energetic woman. She combines the two interests to great
advantage and has shown her travel pictures at various club meetings to the
members’ delight.
Transcribed
by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Historical Volume &
Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park, Rosemead, San Gabriel &
Temple City, by Robert P. Studer, Pages 388-390,
Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California.
1962.
© 2012 V.
Gerald Iaquinta.
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