Phoebe Jane (Smith) Romick

The description said simply :

SIGNED :

MRS. RONICK

Kurtz Studio

Manhattan, Kan.

But on the reverse I could see more:

Phoebe Smith … k. a. c. … ‘97 …

and I thought Ronick might actually be Romick … as in this article that appeared in the local paper.

"W.S. Romick, a popular LaVerne,California orange grower and one of the directors of the LaVerne Orange Growers Association is believed to be at San Diego on his honeymoon this week. Mr. Romick went away without publishing his plans, and his friends have been doing a lot of guessing. Our guess may be all wrong, and if so Mr. Romick may have space to correct it next week, but we guess that Mr. Romick got his new Buick Six ahead of turn because there was a wedding in the case, and we guess the bride is Miss Phoebe Smith of Los Angeles, and we guess that it was a good choice on both sides, and we rather guess that Rev O.W. Reinius of Rialto,CA. performed the ceremony, that is providing Mr. Reinius was at home, which the long distance operator said he was not. We guess the wedding was intended to be a surprise, and that we hadn't better say any more until we know more about it."
~ Lordsburg Leader (1915)

Two years later W. S. Romick would take part in another marriage ceremony … one that proved he had a sense of humor.

Lordsburg, California was the ‘Heart of the Orange Empire’ in 1917 when residents voted to change the name to La Verne.  Embarrassed and frustrated with the name “Lordsburg,” citizens had petitioned for a name change and that caused a confrontation between Lord, the founder and the townspeople.  Even the college students joined in the fight.  But Lord did not take the change lightly, he took the issue to court and won.

And so Lordsburg residents endured the name until he died in 1917.

They’d hardly finished burying him when an election was held and the name was officially changed to “La Verne” with a vote of 239 to 81.

Lord didn’t make a fuss this time.

“He wasn’t beloved as you would think a founder of a town might be,” says Heckman, who has researched the name change. Known as “fair, fat and 40,” Lord did not even live in his town, but instead in Alta Loma, commuting to Lordsburg by train.

Newly renamed after the northern orange-growing district, La Verne it was, but after years of being the talk of the town, the residents of La Verne were not done.   Like “celebrating revolutionaries they whooped it up” with a symbolic marriage ceremony to commemorate the town’s new name.

On Sept. 27th, 1917, in the hotel auditorium, with an orchestra playing, “There’ll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight” on hair combs,  the ceremony was held.

Carrying a bouquet of orange blossoms, “Miss Lordsburg” portrayed by local barber Oscar W. Raley walked down the aisle to exchange vows … and names … and was married to “Mr. La Verne,” played by Phoebe’s husband and citrus grower, W. S. Romick.  Harvey Nichols presided over the ceremony.  The event was homespun vaudeville, a type of  live entertainment enjoyed before the age of radio.

Phoebe was a teacher before her marriage to W. Scott Romick.  

She graduated Kansas Agricultural College in 1897 and spent the following year as a student at Kansas State Normal School, a school dedicated to the education of teachers in Emporia, Kansas.

From 1899 - 1900 Phoebe taught school in Manhattan, Kansas but from 1900 - 1908 she was a teacher for Pueblo (Colorado) City Schools.

In  1908 Phoebe relocated to Pasadena, California.  She was a student at the Throop Institute from 1908 - 1909,  before taking a position as a Teacher of Home Economics at Intermediate High School in Los Angeles, CA.

In 1915, Phoebe Jane Smith, 40, married 54 year old Winfield Scott Romick, a Lordsburg (La Verne), California citrus grower recognized as one of the pioneers of the La Verne citrus industry.

In 1890 Lordsburg agriculturists W. Scott Romick and L. H. Bixby had each planted about five acres at the same time.  Marcus L. Sparks set out 10 acres of orange trees and for nearly a century the citrus industry in La Verne would prosper.

I was able to locate 2 photographs of W. Scott Romick …

One photograph of him at work - Scott Romick with a wagonload of Boxes
and
A more formal portrait - W. Scott Romick

In later years Scott and Phoebe Romick can be found on several passenger lists  …

In 1928 aboard the S. S. California sailing from Havana, Cuba.

In 1936 and again in 1948 (at which time they were 86 and 72)  sailing on the S. S. Lurline from Honolulu, Hawaii.

It would seem they enjoyed a long life.  Winfield Scott Romick born May 19, 1861 lived to be 100 years old and died Oct. 15, 1961. Phoebe Jane Smith born June 3, 1875, died June 9, 1962, age 87 years.