It's interesting to come across names and photos of people when I search for one thing and come up with another. One of these interesting finds was an East Sacramento resident by the name of Genevieve (Moore) Cobb. Her story was printed in the Valley Community Newspaper in December 2010. Sadly, Genevieve passed away on December 14, 2011 but I thought her story was worth writing about. Born in Greeley, Colorado on June 27, 1908 to Delbert and Effie (Wotring) Moore, she was the first of five children born to the couple.
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| 1908, Greeley, Clorado. Grandparents with mother and father. |
She lived in Colorado for three years until her parents decided to move to Roseburg, Oregon. Her father Delbert, a former railroad worker supported the family by cutting wood in the forest. To help stabilize the finances of the family, Genevieve's mother would can fruit to be sold from the farm they lived on. Hoping to improve their financial situation the family moved to Oklahoma during the oil boom and settled in Skiatook, Oklahoma but relocated when her father obtained work in the oil fields around Bigheart, Oklahoma.
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1921 during their time in Bigheart, Ok.
L-R: Meredith, Juanita, Delbert, Genevieve, Effie and Randall. The fifth child, Darrell had not been born yet. |
Genevieve recalled the time in 1922 when the name of the town was changed from Bigheart to Barnsdall cause of the Barnsdall Oil Company that operated the local refinery. Checking the Barnsdall school graduating classes, her name shows up in the class of 1926 as Genevieve Moore. After graduation she attended Oklahoma University and obtained a teaching degree where she moved to Skiatook, OK. and began a teaching career in the Skiatook Elementary School. It was here she turned down the offer of principle of the elementary school. She would meet her future husband Rodney Cobb and later be married.
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| Rodney and Genevieve after their wedding. |
Rodney served in the Army in Panama for 13 months and afterward was transferred to Fresno, California. Genevieve moved to Fresno to be with Rodney until he was discharged from the Army. They moved to Colorado Springs where Rodney attended college and obtained a degree in Botany. Rodney's desire to get a Masters degree soon sent the couple to Seattle, Washington where he would get his Masters degree and find employment with the seed supplier Burpee and Company in Lompoc, California. In 1953, the couple moved to East Sacramento where Rodney was hired by the Department of Agriculture. Genevieve also became employed by the state, first working for the Division of Highways and then for the California Public Employees Retirement System. Rodney and Genevieve retired in July 1969. After a long retirement, Rodney passed away in 2000. Genevieve, who is of Irish and Dutch ancestry was related to the second president, John Adams and credits her long life to her family genes.
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| 1926 BHS graduate, Genevieve (Moore) Cobb |
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