Last fall, the Winters School District went on a search for four worthy individuals to honor in the district’s inaugural Hall of Fame. The search spread out over three categories: Alumni, Former Employee and Distinguished Service, each with an emphasis on the candidate’s positive contribution to the school district and its students.
Two were chose for the Alumni category — Richard Rominger and Jack Graff. Retired Winters High School art teacher Sally Paul was selected as the former employee most worthy of the honor, and Bobbie Greenwood was singled out as the one most deserving of the Distinguished Service award.
Winters Superintendent of Schools Todd Cutler praised all the honorees at the awards ceremony, held on Thursday, April 26, at the school district office, and shared his thoughts about those who have contributed above and beyond the call of duty.
“Upon my arrival to Winters I envisioned the ideas of recognizing the talented past graduates, employees and individuals that have demonstrated high levels of performance and commitment to the greater good of our community and beyond. It is my belief that recognizing the success and efforts of those that have come before our current students can help motivate and drive our students towards our district’s vision of ‘Inspiring and Cultivating Pathways to Success.’”
Many dignitaries were in attendance at the event, including representatives from the offices of Senator Bill Dodd and Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, Solano Community College District Trustee Mike Martin, Incoming Yolo County Superintendent of Schools Garth Lewis, City Manager John Donlevy, Winters City Councilmembers Bill Biasi and Jesse Loren, Mayor Wade Cowen, and school board trustees Rudolph Muldong, Ralph Anderson, Mike Olivas and Robert Warren.
Cutler then singled out each honoree, explaining why s/he was chosen.
Bobbie Greenwood
“If you grew up in Winters, chances are Bobbie Greenwood taught you to swim and if you have kids, she has taught them too. Bobbie and her husband John began their service to Winters in the 1950s, and led the endeavor to have a town pool built.
“In March of 1959, the contract was awarded and in June of 1959, Winters opened its first town swimming pool. Bobbie started the Winters Swim team in 1962 and has been its chief supporter and operator since.
In 2007 Bobbie again led the charge and a new pool was built in Winters, the “Bobbie Greenwood Community Swim Center.” This past swim season, Bobbie was recognized as the state’s oldest swim coach by Sacramento’s KCRA 3.
Bobbie still drives herself to swim practice every day during the season, orders and picks up every team swim suit and ribbon in Davis, and sizes all the suits on each kid.
“In addition to being the matriarch of swim in Winters, Bobbie also attends every Rotary meeting and event, and has been the student advisor for the nonprofit AFS International (formerly American Field Service) for over 40 years in Winters.
This amazing woman selflessly gives of a of her time to the community of Winters and especially our students.”
Sally Jones Paul
“Sally retired from Winters JUSD in 2005 after 42 years in education. She spent 35 of those years right here in Winters. Sally was an active art teacher that guided hundreds of students in developing a lifelong love and passion for art and artists.
“Sally was very innovative and started several events to expose her students and their work to the community. Sally also held or supported many events in town to help raise money for the art program to ensure her students had quality supplies, such as selling cookbooks, hosting “Back to the Beach” dances and managing the December Holiday Faire.
“When one of our board members learned of Sally’s selection he commented, ‘She was a great teacher.’ Since retiring, Sally continues to support art and has donated several of her own pieces to support local programs. Sally is without a doubt the perfect role model to be selected as our first employee to the Hall.”
John R. “Jack” Graf
“Jack Graf graduated from Winters High School in 1948, is a United States Marine Corp veteran and has dedicated his life to supporting Winters families and youth.
“He was an educator for 39 years, including being both a principal for Winters Joint Unified School District (1975-76) and a superintendent of Winters JUSD (1976-1982), and was elected for a two-term appointment as the Yolo County Superintendent of Schools. He truly gave of his life to the students, families and communities of both Winters and Yolo County.
“He has an extensive list of community service duties and created the Graf-McMahon scholarship to provide opportunities and support students interested in seeking a career in education or agriculture.
“As an educational leader, Jack is inspiration to me and one that I work to emulate in my own career on daily basis.”
Richard Rominger
“Rich Rominger, a 1944 graduate of Winters High School, has many accomplishments and has truly demonstrated that a graduate of Winters High School can reach the highest levels of leadership and success.
“Richard is a Navy veteran of WWII, former Director of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and former Deputy Secretary & Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He currently serves on the University of California President’s Advisory Commission on Agriculture and Natural Resources and the California Roundtable on Agriculture and the Environment and is a liaison between the UC system and the agriculture community.
“Rich also served our schools as a board member of the High School District from 1956 to 1965, and was president of the board from 1962-1965. He was also a member of the AFS Winters Chapter from 1974 to 1977, and hosted AFS exchange students in his home for the year 1976-1977.
“Adding to his long list of activities, Rich has supported many causes in Winters, highlighted by being a member and chairman of the Winters Farm Center of the Yolo County Farm Bureau, a supporter of the Winters Friends of the Library, Winters History Project, Putah Creek Council and the Winters Chamber of Commerce.”
In addition to their honors at the ceremony, the four inaugural inductees into the Winters School District Hall of Fame rode together on a float in the 2018 Youth Day Parade.
