Margge Wood displays past news articles and photos from 1950 when she was crowned the second Queen of Fair Oaks. Photo by Judy Andrews

FAIR OAKS, CA (MPG) - What was it like to grow up in Fair Oaks in the 1930s and ‘40s? Just ask long-time local Margge Wood, who recalls a simpler time when everyone knew everyone else in the community. Wood’s family ties to Fair Oaks date back over a century.

Born in 1933, Marjorie “Margge” Wood lived in Fair Oaks until she turned 21. Her father’s family owned ranch property in Mills, just south of the river where Rancho Cordova is now. Her mother’s side was from Roseville.

When Wood was two or three, her grandfather broke his leg while working at Pacific Coast Aggregate, then known as PCA. The rock-crushing company, located in present-day Gold River, was one of the area's largest employers at the time. Wood’s family moved into the grandparents’ Fair Oaks home to help care for the elder Wood.

Eventually, her parents bought “prime location” property in “downtown” Fair Oaks, which Wood still owns today.

Margge Wood's family home, which her father and grandfather built around 1940, is now a tattoo shop owned by Andy Campoy. Photo by Judy Andrews

The properties include six businesses on Fair Oaks Boulevard, including O Café Bakery. The family home, which her father and grandfather built from Basalite bricks around 1940, is currently home to Honeymoon Tattoo, a business owned by Andy Campoy.

“Fair Oaks was pretty quiet in those days and there wasn’t much to do,” recalled Wood. “We didn’t even have a stop sign in town until after I was married.”

For fun, she liked to play tennis at two nearby courts, one at her grammar school (where Meraki High School is today) and another at Temescal and Bridge streets. During summer, all the youth swam in the river, which was the main recreational activity for Fair Oaks families.

Before World War II, Wood’s father ran a car dealership from their Fair Oaks home. When the war broke out, however, everything familiar to Wood’s childhood changed. 

“It was a scary time to be a kid. It felt like you were always on edge. I had seven uncles and two aunts in the military, so anyone who was in the service left town,” she said.

Wood’s father was forced to close his auto business because “no one had new cars during the war.” Her father took on war-related work to help keep the family afloat.

Margge Wood, shown here as a 3-year-old, is with her father, "Doozy" Wood, on a fishing trip. Photo courtesy of Margge Wood

She remembers the soldiers driving their military trucks past the house: “We gave them water from buckets. I don’t know what they were doing but they’d always stop, wave and comment about the beautiful countryside. Some of them vowed to return someday and many of them did after the war.”

When the war ended, Wood’s father opened Wood Motors with a showroom next to their Fair Oaks Boulevard house.

“People called him ‘Doozy’ Wood and he knew everyone within a 20-mile radius,” said Wood.

When her father retired in the late ‘50s, Charlie Edgett bought the dealership. Edgett was her father’s only salesman at Wood Motors. 

San Juan High School was the only high school in the area until Bella Vista opened in 1960. Every student within miles attended San Juan, High, which was part of the Fair Oaks Unified School District.

Wood was 16 when her mother suggested that she run for the annual Queen of Fair Oaks pageant. The contest took place over Fiesta Days in 1950. Wood competed against two other girls on behalf of the Professional Women’s Club and won, making her the second reigning Queen of Fair Oaks in the pageant’s history.

“It was an honorary title. I’d show up to business openings and hand out stuff,” she said. “They invited me to the Folsom Rodeo and announced me as the Rodeo Queen, which I had no idea they would do. Someone handed me a cowboy hat and told me to wear it.” 

Margge Wood, shown here as a 14-year-old, attended San Juan High School. Photo courtesy of Margge Wood

Wood was 21 when she married. She and her husband moved to Woodland, where they resided for many years. Eventually, she returned to Fair Oaks, her hometown, and became the first female director on the board of American River Bank. She also sold cars at Edgett Motors while her youngest child was in college. Both businesses are now gone.

Today, Wood lives in Gold River and is active in the Gold River and Fair Oaks communities. She is a busy great-grandmother, grandmother and mother to four children aged 62 to 72. Wood has kept physically active all her life. Although she no longer skis or plays tennis and golf, she loves riding her bike along the American River and enjoys socializing with girlfriends.

When recently asked what she misses the most about “Old Fair Oaks,” Wood replied, “I miss the genuine camaraderie of everyone pitching in and doing their part. We didn’t separate ourselves by organizations and roles back then. Everything was done for the welfare of the town and the people.”