Floating around on one of the Goleta History Facebook groups was a copy of the 1990 Goleta Valley Days Festival & Parade Official Program. Inside the program, Robert P. Rowe is listed as the Grand Marshall.
Who’s Robert Rowe?
Goleta Valley Days 1990 Grand Marshall Robert P. Rowe has family roots in the Goleta Valley dating back to 1885. Robert is a native of Santa Barbara, attended Santa Barbara High School and received his B.S. Degree in Aeronautical Engineering at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.
Robert Rowe has led a long and distinguished career in the agricultural field. He has served as a 4H leader for over sixteen years, been President of the Goleta Valley Farm Bureau, President of the Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau, Executive Director of the Future Farmers of America, Director of the Nineteenth Agricultural District for over twenty-five years and was its President for three years.
Mr. Rowe was distinguished as the 1957 Goleta Valley “Man of the Year” and was Director and President of “Old Spanish Days.” He is still active in the Goleta Valley Historical Society, the Santa Barbara Rodeo Committee, the American Orchid Society, the International Orchid Show, and the Nineteen Agricultural District Association. He is currently Judge Chairman of the Flower Show for the Nineteenth Agricultural District Association and Senior Judge of the Cymbidium Society of America.
Robert and his wife Dorothy have been married 44 years and they have two sons, Robert E. Rowe and John S. Rowe. Robert P. Rowe’s grandparents, Herbert William and Elisa Pobblestone Rowe, first came to the United States in 1882 from England and settled in the Goleta Valley. Among the Rowe’s seven children was Robert P. Rowe’s father, Robert Septimus Rowe, who was five years old when the family settled in Goleta Valley.
After local schooling, the Rowe brothers began their careers in farming. They bought ninety-three acres near Goleta and cultivated olives, lemons and walnuts. In 1903, Robert Septimus married Genevieve Pensinger, whose father was also a Goleta rancher, and they bore two children, Barbara Rowe and Robert Pensinger Rowe.
The Goleta Valley Days Committee is honored to have as its 1990 Grand Marshall, Robert P. Rowe, who has distinguished himself as a community leader and whose family is an integral part of Goleta Valley History.
