tool name

Saturday, Sep. 26, 2009

Sarah Lim: Who's the man behind the school name?

Elmer Wood Elementary School is one of the six schools in Merced County awarded a transportation grant from the Courthouse Museum to visit the "Endangered Species of California's Central Valley" exhibit.

Elmer Wood Elementary was a recipient of the California Distinguished Schools Award in 2008. It was the only elementary school in Merced County to receive it that year. Readers and students might not know who Elmer Wood was.

Elmer Wood is part of Merced County's rich agricultural history. He was the founder of the Wood Fruit Co. and its successor J.R. Wood Co. The two companies combined were in business for 75 years. The following is a brief biography provided by his son Roger Wood.

Elmer Wood, son of John and Lela (Diehl) Wood, was born on Dec. 24, 1894, on a farm in Warsaw, Ind. He came to California in 1913, after the death of his father, to live with his grandfather in San Marino. Elmer entered USC in 1914 to study engineering. The following year he entered Davis Agricultural College (now UCD) to receive a two-year degree in agriculture.

After serving in World War I, Elmer came to Atwater and began to work as the second manager in the second year of the life of the Atwater Fruit Exchange. In the fall of 1919, he married Dorothy Hertges. They lived on a 20-acre farm located on Mitchell Road (later renamed Fruitland Avenue).

Elmer resigned from the Atwater Fruit Exchange in 1928 and started Wood Fruit Co. Mr. Vogt and Mr. Williams were his partners for two years. Then Elmer bought them out and was the sole owner of Wood Fruit Co. until his sons incorporated the company in 1973. Elmer built his packinghouse across the highway from the Atwater Fruit Exchange on the corner of High Street and Highway 99.

The Wood Fruit Co. grew over the years to about 400 acres of peaches, grapes, sweet potatoes and a dairy located across the canal at the end of Mitchell Street in Atwater. Elmer's son, Jim, joined him in farming in 1945. In 1970 the company office and packinghouse were moved to the corner of Bellevue Road and Vine Avenue. The development of the frozen food plant at that location began several years later close to the end of Elmer's life.

Elmer was active in business and community organizations. He served on the Merced Irrigation District Board from the '30s to 1965. New Exchequer Dam was conceived and constructed during his tenure. He helped organize the Merced Production Credit Association in the '30s and served on the Board until the early '60s. He served on the Board of Trustees of the Atwater Elementary School District from 1933 to 1954. The Mitchell K-6 and Senior Elementary campuses on Grove Street and the Bellevue Elementary School were built during his term on the board.

His favorite personal honor was having the Elmer Wood Elementary School built in 1958 on land that had been part of his original farm. He died on May 20, 1975, at the age of 80.

His sons, Jim and Roger and his grandchildren, Ken Wood and Dorothy Johnston, kept Wood Fruit Co. and its successor J. R. Wood Inc. operating and growing until his family decided to sell the corporation to Dole in 2004.