Frank F. Woods and Rosemarie Woods. (Courtesy photo, Rosemarie Woods)

Woods family legacy lives on in agriculture and youth

One hundred years ago, Frank P. Woods bought a 25-acre ranch west of Lodi.

Today, alfalfa is still grown on the century-old Davis Road ranch that remains in the Woods family. The Woods' family legacy in agriculture continues on in his grandson who farms the land and in his son and daughter-in-law who have left their lasting mark on the agriculture-based 4-H youth program.

Frank Phillip Woods was born on March 20, 1869 in Baker County, Iowa. With his father, Woods worked as teamsters and traveled west by horse and wagon. Woods learned to speak in the language of Native Americans in Arizona, and they traded goods with them. Woods came to California for supplies and ended up settling in the Lompoc area of the Central Coast region. He got a job working in the oil fields.

While in Lompoc, Woods met Amelia Johanna Schaub. A Kentucky native, she was 14 years his junior and working as a cook in the local hotel. After their marriage on January 17, 1921, the couple left the Lompoc oil fields and hotel and started their future farming in the Lodi area where Woods had earlier bought land.

Woods bought the 25-acre property from relatives, Myrtle and E. E. Thompson on June 5, 1907. The bill of sale was recorded on June 7, 1907. The ranch was on Davis Road, south of Highway 12. They started farming and built their home.

On Dec. 14, 1921, their only child, Franklin Frederick Woods, was born at St. Joseph's Hospital in Stockton.

As a boy, Frank helped his parents on the farm and, as was natural for country boys, became involved in the youth agriculture program called 4-H. The name comes from the club motto or philosophy of head, heart, hands and health. Frank's involvement was to last for the rest of his life.

Frank's future wife, Rosemarie Janeiro, graduated from high school in the Decoto area (now Union City) in 1947 and then followed her parents who moved to Stockton. In Stockton, she got a job with Sears, Roebuck & Co. She went on a blind date and met Frank Woods. They were married on March 25, 1951, and established their home together on the Davis Road ranch.

The next year their first son, Michael Frederick Woods, was born, and in 1954, their second son, Wayne David Woods, was born. As the boys grew older, the value of his 4-H years came back to Frank Woods and, in 1959, the whole family became involved in the youth program. This involvement has continued for 48 years and, in the work of Rosemarie Woods, the family's work promises to keep going.

Frank and Rosemarie served as co-leaders in the Henderson-Lafayette 4-H when their youngest became involved in 4-H. Rosemarie had helped her husband on the farm by doing the books, but around this time she also owned and operated a ladies and children's apparel store, the Rosewood Shop, on Main Street in Rio Vista. This was when Highway 12 was still incomplete over Bouldin Island, so she had to drive her Renault through Isleton over the long, twisty roads on the levees to get to work six days a week.

"I hated that drive," she said during a recent interview. After two and a half years, Rosemarie quit the business and devoted herself to tasks close at home -- her children, working as a teacher's aide at Elkhorn School and 4-H.

Over the years, her involvement has stretched into a page-long list of accomplishments in the youth organization at the local, county, sectional and state levels. Her volunteer work with 4-H naturally led to involvement in the San Joaquin County Fair. Around 1970, she began her tireless association with the fair and helping along 4-H and other youth programs including the Grange and FFA and later in the Friends of the Fair program. Frank was right alongside his wife, and the pair was a fixture at program functions.

On May 11, 2006, Frank Woods died. In his memory, Rosemarie established the Frank Woods Memorial Scholarship through 4-H. This scholarship is administered by their son Wayne Woods, who also continues to farm alfalfa on the century-old Davis Road ranch.

"I've had a very good life with the friends I've made and I still have," Rosemarie Woods said in a recent interview.

In her personal notes, Woods wrote a fitting tribute to their legacy.

"We've been involved with young people all of our lives," she wrote. "When Frank passed away I said I would dedicate myself to the 4-H program which we both loved. I'll be 78 in January 2008, and I'm going full force with my dedication to the youth."

Vintage Lodi is a local history column that appears on the first and third Saturday of the month.