Roy W. Cloud was an educator and historian

Roy lived in Redwood City nearly all of his life. He attended Sequoia High School, graduating in 1898. While a student, he earned money delivering papers and doing odd jobs in his neighborhood. Right after high school, he began teaching in Redwood City. In those days only a county certificate was necessary to teach primary school. Later he attended Stanford University, graduating in 1905. He worked his way through college by selling real estate and working as a bill collector.

After Stanford, Cloud became a school principal at Bodie, Calif. This small town east of the Sierras is now famous as a ghost town. Ten months of the harsh weather of Bodie was enough, and Cloud returned to San Mateo County. He taught again briefly and was elected county superintendent of schools in 1906. He was 30 years old. He held this position until 1925. He then resigned to become superintendent of schools for Redwood City. He left this position when he was made executive secretary of the California State Teachers Association.

Cloud was a popular speaker and appeared throughout the state at Teacher's Institutes and other venues. He was also an accomplished writer and historian. He wrote many articles for journals and books on education.

In 1928, Roy Cloud published a two-volume history of San Mateo County. It is one of the earlier works we have on our local history. He reportedly wanted to make San Mateo County history interesting so that people living here would have a deeper feeling for their home. Many student term papers on local history include Cloud's book in their bibliographies. In this way, he is still contributing to education.

Cloud worked throughout his career for teachers. In 1906, the average elementary school teacher earned $60 per month for 10 months of the year. He attended meetings and conferences, always pleading to raise teacher's salaries to at least equal what carpenters were being paid. By 1928, he had succeeded in getting teachers' salaries raised to $125 per month for 12 months.

As county superintendent, Cloud guided the local schools through a period of great advancement. During his term there was a large increase in the population of the county, resulting in the building of new schools. Many of those schools fell under the administration of the county district, as this was before all the towns were formed with their own school districts. He made a point of personally visiting each school. Records show 200 such visits in one year.

Cloud's autobiographical sketch gives his political party, his religious affiliation and lists all the organizations with which he was affiliated. He also mentions his family, including his son, Roy N. Cloud. All the facts are there, but the real picture of this man is visible through his accomplishments.

Rediscovering the Peninsula appears in the Monday edition of the Daily Journal. For more information on this or related topics, visit the San Mateo County History Museum, 777 Hamilton St., Redwood City.